All-Stars: Non-Careers
by LadyCordeliaStuart
Summary: Fourth time's the charm?
1. Three and Four

DeMarcus King

 _They picked me?_ I didn't expect that. I was never that popular, especially in Three. It must have been the Capitol that wanted me back. I _did_ do a pretty good job, until the part where I died. It was quite a pick-me-up to get picked to come back to life.

"So who won?" I asked Beetee.

"Careen," he said, and I wasn't surprised. I had another, more important question.

"Is Blaise back too?" The first letter was barely out of Beetee's mouth when I was out of the room and down the hall like a rocket.

* * *

Gizmo Torrens

 _In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity._

It seemed I had died. I was not entirely surprised, since I was never the strongest of our alliance. That would be Nubu, and if any of us won, it would have been him. I was even more surprised they picked me again, since I sort of had a record. It must have been a popular vote, _not_ a Panem Congress sort of thing.

Obviously, this was a Resurrection Games. Everything was going to be different. I'd have to replan, rewire, and re-adapt. I couldn't get started soon enough.

* * *

Wyatt Sparks

"All right, what's new?"

It was getting harder to take life seriously when it was clearer every day (every life?) how cheap it was. Why worry about death when I can keep coming back? "Who'd I miss?"

"The only one you'd care about is Ava won," the new mentor said.

"That's nice, but I mean, I care about you too," I said politely. "So she won? Wait a minute, She died before me."

"She won the next Resurrection Games," the mentor said.

"You all _skipped_ me? Rude," I said.

"It was Careers only," he said.

"That's no excuse," I said.

* * *

Electra Magneta

"Did Des win?" I asked.

"I'm sorry. She was second. But she's back," Acee said.

"Maybe this time she'll win," I said.

"Maybe this time _you'll_ win," Acee said.

"I don't think so," I said. I got out of bed and she pulled me into a hug.

"Don't sell yourself short," she said.

* * *

Emmeline Blythe

It's going to be even worse this time. Last time there was nothing to do against a bat monster cobbled together in a mad scientist's lab. It always had to be bigger and better in the Games. I didn't want to see what was coming this time. But I did want to be ready for it.

We had a new leader. I knew nothing about Snow, but I knew all about Panem. Whoever clawed his way to the top was a cruel, merciless leader. He'd make the Games worse than they'd ever been. I was surprised he let the Resurrection Games go on. A man like him must favor death.

* * *

Vera Busattil

Over and over. Always a Tribute, never a Victor. It was starting to be a routine.

"Is Whyte up yet?" I asked Shelle.

"He's not here," she said bluntly. My heart flopped.

"What do you mean? Why not?" I asked.

"He was chosen to participate in the Career Games instead," she said.

"Like a separate Games? There's two this year?" I asked.

"It's already over. He didn't win," Shelle said.

"Why wasn't I in the Career Games?" I asked.

"The people wanted to see you reunite with Frankie, who wasn't eligible," she said.

"But Frankie's here?" I asked.

"He's waiting outside," she said. I wasn't ready to meet him for a long while. I thought the Capitol couldn't get any more intrusive, but now they were dictating my relationships. It was my _life,_ not their entertainment. It wasn't Frankie's fault, and when I was ready, I was happy to see him.

* * *

Celestial Yeager

Why can't they just leave me alone? I'm never going to win. I might as well walk up to whatever mutts are in the Arena and at least die among friends.

"There's another twist this year," Mags said.

"Oh boy, what is it?" I asked flatly.

"There's no Careers this time. Just the outliers," she said.

I didn't want to hope. No Careers meant I might have a chance, and that was too painful to think about. It also meant Dane wasn't coming back. We never got to see what might have happened. Our paths kept glancing off each other, but never long enough to stay. Here I was back on Earth, and soon I'd be back where I cam from.

* * *

 **There are weird numbers of Tributes per District this time, so chapters will vary as I try not to have like 20 chapters before we're even done with the Reapings. They're going to be short since all the characters are established. The exception will be original Tributes or Tributes from other stories. They'll go in a separate chapter and their intros will be longer so you can see what they're like. After that it will go back to normal.**


	2. Five Tributes

Gabriel Farad

It wasn't reassuring to see Erwin when I woke up. Grumpy old badger. There was something else _I_ wanted to see.

 _Is Delilah here too?_ I asked. They must have seen me coming, since the words flashed up on the wall.

"She's here," he said. I got up and was about to run out the door when I noticed the clock.

 _Uh-oh. Does it count as missing prayers when I'm dead?_

* * *

Kerry Samosa

Crap. I had the Arena of my dreams and I fell off a rock. I would say I hoped no one was watching, but _the entire country_ was watching. This couldn't get more embarrassing. Maybe at least Vextrix won. I never could quite get a read on her, but she was better than a Career.

"So who won?" I asked Erwin.

"Careen," he said.

Crap.

* * *

Logan Quinn

This was weird. This was just weird. I was _dead._ Dead is dead. What was I doing back in the Games Center? My skin prickled and I whipped the blanket off, checking for spiders. Some lady was sitting by the bed.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm your _escort,_ silly!" she said. There was a moment of confusion, and then panic.

"How long has it been?!" I asked.

"What year were you?" she asked.

"Thirty-five," I said. She squinted and started counting on her fingers.

"Six years," she said. It wasn't bad as I'd feared, but it was still a big blow. My friends were so old now. Half of them probably died. I was all alone in a new world.

* * *

Daniel Mondins

It had all been a horrible nightmare. I was about to start the Resurrection Games and Sarla wasn't dead. She was never going to be dead. I'd watch all the Careers at the Cornucopia. I'd get so good in training they wouldn't think about going after her. I'd do whatever I had to.

* * *

Sarla Mondins

Daniel must have been so worried after I died. But then, maybe he wasn't worried, since I was dead. When I saw him, he didn't seem any sadder than usual.

"I had a horrible dream. But don't worry about that. It won't come true," he said.

"Yeah, this time we'll be okay," I said. He went pale.

"What do you mean this time?" he asked. Then I knew what the dream was.

"You know, the Resurrection Games. Our second chance," I said. If it was just a dream to him, it was better than how sad it would have made him if it was real.

* * *

Skyler Dacher

Everything knitted back together slowly. One minute I was in a huge shopping mall, and then I was back at the Games Center. I couldn't imagine how I'd won.

"Welcome to the Resurrection Games!" Otho exclaimed.

"Wait, Resurrection Games? What's that?" I asked.

"We brought you back to try again," he said.

"You mean I _died?"_ I asked. It couldn't be true.

"Yes, but it's okay," he said.

"Easy for you to say!" I said. What was this? How'd they do it? Why would they want to see me die again?

"Cheer up! This time you might win," he said. It was going to take a while to process it, but he was right. I was alive, and that meant I had hope.

* * *

Lyra Axelle

I could imagine why I got picked. The Districts had little influence, but the mayor might be able to grease a few wheels and get his daughter picked for the Resurrection Games. It must have been embarrassing when I died.

But things were different now. I wasn't at home anymore. I wouldn't see my parents before the Games began. I wasn't connected to them and I didn't have to be. I'd gotten here because of special treatment, but that was over. There wouldn't be favoritism in the Arena. I'd be on my own, and I'd see what I was made of. If I won, I'd be a Victor. I'd be independent of my parents and I'd have done it on my own power. If I lost, I was back where I started.

* * *

 **Pandora goes in the separate section for new Tributes to my stories so she can get a longer intro so you know what she's like. The same goes for Sevarian, who would be here.**

 **I am indeed sending every Tribute that gets nominated. Resurrection Games are where logic and canon go out the window.**


	3. Six and Seven

Addie Child

I must have won. I didn't remember much about the Arena, though. Probably that happened to all Victors. It was pretty traumatizing to be in the Hunger Games. Then again, it was easier than I thought. It certainly went by quickly.

" _Are you ready?"_ Otho asked.

"I guess so," I said. I was excited to get my crown and see Harlequin again.

"Good, because it's Resurrection time!" Otho said.

" _What?"_ I asked. I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I couldn't remember anything past the Bloodbath. The Games went by so fast. It didn't mean what I thought at all. How did it happen? It was so upsetting in the strangest way. I didn't know where to start.

* * *

Hadley Kinneth

My mother would already be dead. My family was so different I'd hardly recognize them. I volunteered to get a better life for us, but that was long gone. I didn't even know if I knew anyone in the world. Skyler was gone, too.

I couldn't win for anyone else anymore. I could only win for me. It wouldn't be for any grand purpose. It would just be to stay alive this time.

* * *

Velvet Tek

I thought it would hurt more to burn to death. I was scared to open my eyes, since they were probably burned over. But it didn't hurt at all.

It didn't make any sense to see Bambi by my bed. We couldn't both have won, and I knew _I_ didn't.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Thanks for the flowers," I said when I saw the rainbow lily bouquet he was holding. It was pretty, even though it made no sense.

"I won. You're here for the Resurrection Games," he said.

"You won? That's so great," I said. I leaned up to hug him but she shrank back.

"I need to tell you something," he said. "Whatever you do, don't watch the rest of our Games. Please," he said.

Bambi wasn't usually so intense. All I could do was agree.

"Okay," I said. Then he was happy again. And we were halfway to a happy ending. All we needed was for me to win, too.

* * *

Ree Morning

I couldn't make something like this up. First I was the poor little orphan who lost her brother when she was adopted by the mayor. Then I was the little cutie who went into the Games as the ultimate underdog. Now I was back again for a second chance at making it big. In an Arena with only outliers, I might actually have a chance. I could triumph over it all and finally find a happy ending. If this was a book, I'd throw up.

* * *

Lyte Anderson

I'd found my place. I wasn't ever going to win. It wasn't what I wanted anyway, and it didn't matter. They'd always want me back, since I could make the Games last longer by helping people stay alive. That was what I wanted. I didn't want to kill people. I was a doctor.

Even if I looked the same as ever, I was sort of a grown-up when you thought about it. I was born twenty-four years ago. Not everyone in Panem lived that long. As long as there were Resurrection Games, I'd go on. With Panem the way it was, I was probably immortal.

* * *

Zetan Thompson

I wasn't surprised to hear that Nubu won. Without him, it wasn't likely the alliance would come together again. I hoped I could still find someone, though. It was good to have friends.

It was a testimony to the very absurdity of the situation that I found it so normal. Coming back to life as a clone? Going into the Arena again? All par for the course in Panem. I was more concerned about alliances than actually dying.

* * *

Reiner Ludwig

The past was the past. Khaleesi and the others were so far away it wasn't fair to try to come back into their lives. I could only go forward.

"Reiner!" I didn't expect to hear a familiar voice, but as soon as I did, my heart soared. The door banged open and a little boy barreled into the room and jumped on my bed.

"They picked you too!" Lyte shouted. "Come on, let's go pull sugar or something!"

Let the past stay behind me. The present wasn't as bad as I thought.

* * *

Asper Fin

My God, what _was_ that thing? Mutts never looked like that. It was almost human. It was horrible.

The doorknob jiggled and my pulse shot up. If I'd been expecting a normal mutt, the first glimpse of a person would have dispelled the fear, but as it was, Paul was entirely in the room before I calmed down.

Darn the Capitol. Every Victor was afraid of something, whether it was water or crocodiles. Thanks to them, I was terrified of humans.

* * *

Desiree Redwood

Screw that. I got second place. Screw Careen. And not even literally, even if she _was_ pretty.

Don't screw Electra though. I hoped they'd picked her, but I had a horrible feeling they didn't. They didn't give her a chance to show what she could do, and they might think she wasn't worth it. They'd be entirely wrong, but it wouldn't matter for her.

One thing was lucky. It was only one year after our last Games. I wasn't like some of the people from the Career Games that woke up twenty years into the future. My family would still remember me. When I got back home to them, everything could go back to normal.

* * *

River Summers

They put my hair back. That was so nice of them. I didn't know the Capitol could be nice. I'd probably cut it again, though. There was no room for vanity in the Games.

There were no Careers this year. That was nice. The numbers were worse than last time, but at least we didn't have to worry about a bunch of gladiators. Of course, that wasn't what got me last time. It was a boy from far out in the boundaries of Panem. He was one of us, but then he changed. Sometimes the Careers weren't the biggest monsters.

* * *

Junie Brett

What have they done? The body around me wasn't mine. It was a copy built in some sterile lab. They had no right to kill me and even less to bring me back. I didn't owe them my thanks for making me into a human mutt. It was worse than perverted. It was reprehensible.

I didn't want anything to do with them. I didn't want to be anything like them. I wanted to be the opposite. If they were going to kill children, I wanted to save them. I'd learned a few things back in Seven. In Seven, we actually valued life. That was what I'd take into the Arena. No more killing. They hated life, so let me save it.

* * *

Ever Fellows

It was seventeen years past where it was supposed to be. I was a middle-aged woman, but I was also a teenager. Did I even have legal position? What was I? Wasn't I really too old to be Reaped? It was almost like the Capitol didn't care about law.

If there were no Careers, I had a good chance. We weren't supposed to have weapons in Seven, but they couldn't catch us all. It was just a throwing knife, but it was enough to win the Games. But then, they already didn't care about age. They could just as easily kill the Victor, too. Nothing was certain anymore.


	4. Eight Tributes

**Blaise Wesley**

 **Dying wasn't as hard as I thought. DeMarcus must have won and since he was the Victor, the Capitol let him bring me back to life. That was really weird, and it hurt my brain to think too much about it. It was also weird that Tillo was in the room instead of DeMarcus.**

 **"** **What are you doing here?" I asked.**

 **"** **Getting you ready for the Resurrection Games," she said. I guess they didn't let him after all. But I could still see him again when I won. I hoped he wasn't too much older.**

 **Ryker Merlin**

 **I couldn't understand why they'd pick me. I didn't do a good job. I wasn't even a very good person. Panem didn't lose much when I died. I hoped they didn't leave anyone else behind to make room for me. I was actually a little embarrassed to be alive again. I only hoped everyone forgave me.**

 **Of course, life was cheaper now. I didn't have to be a good person to get picked. I only had to be entertaining.**

 **Arter Wire**

 **I was dead. It was like nothing I ever knew. It was like** ** _nothing._** **I'd been over the edge, where no one ever came back. As soon as I came back to life, I wanted to know more about being dead.**

 **There were so many dead people in history- a lot more than there were living people. It was an entirely knew world. It was so easy to move one way, but I went the other.**

 **I tapped the skin on my arm. It was warm and alive, but what made it that way? What was it that changed living flesh to dead? I could control this body, but I wasn't just a body. I was dead, but I was still there somewhere, or they couldn't have brought me back. There was so much I didn't know.**

 **Torchy Conden**

 ** _What is going on?_** **What** ** _is going on?_**

 **I was dead. Something weird was going on, but I knew I was dead. I couldn't begin to say how freaky that was. I knew the Capitol was weird, but they'd never done anything like this. Did they stuff me back into my body like a zombie? Why would they want to do that? Maybe they needed more Avoxes.**

 **The room didn't look anything like I remembered. It was like they built a whole new building while we were in the Arena. It only took a few weeks for the Games to play out. They must have been really moving.**

 **I looked as good as new. They cleaned me up like they clean up Victors. There was no need for that if I was an Avox. What was going on?**

 **Alice Silvin**

 **I couldn't fly anymore. I was flying with Anise, and then something dragged me down into this bed. Why'd they have to go spoil it? At least I wasn't sore anymore, but I hadn't been soar when I was flying either.**

 **I wasn't in the Arena anymore. Before Anise came, I felt sick. Maybe they took me out of the Arena to fix me up. They didn't usually do that. That was nice of them. I hoped they didn't put me back in. I didn't mind going back home and not winning. I hoped Cierra won. She could come visit me when she was done.**

 **Incense Balboa**

 **Why'd they do it? I wasn't going to win this time either. They couldn't hurt me anymore when I was dead. But that wasn't enough for them. I had to do it all over again.**

 **Did they have any idea what it was like for us? They couldn't imagine the horror and terror we went through every second until death set us free. I couldn't bear it again.**

 **I stared at the ceiling and concentrated on something else. I counted the tiles, row by row. They were neat and even. They made sense. Not like the rest of Panem.**

 **Haber Dasher**

 **Unbelievable. Unacceptable. Inconceivable!**

 **A** ** _man_** **killed me. How could this happen? It didn't make any sense. Someone must have cheated. One of the Gamemakers- a** ** _man,_** **no doubt- must have set this up. But obviously the rest of the Gamemakers were sorry and wanted to make things right. The cheater was probably fired (Avoxed, if they did things right) and there would be nothing stopping me this time.**

 **No more funny business. This time things were going to go right.**

 **Silver Flower**

 **All those poor children. They were so** ** _cute_** **and so** ** _innocent_** **that the Gamemakers never got tired of watching them. They watched them die over and over so they could coo over them and pat themselves on the back for being so mournful over the poor tragic victims.**

 **I'd been through the Games. I knew their terror and pain. No one deserved this, the little ones least of all. I couldn't save all of them. I probably couldn't save any of them. I could only do all I could to make the Games a little less terrifying for them.**


	5. Nine and Ten

Miller Thresher

I was so hungry. Didn't they have any food in this joint? Those bonehead doctors better get their butts in gear. Didn't they ever think of the _patient?_

Those first two times didn't count. This was the _real_ deal. I was ready to go back into the Arena and wipe all those other suckers out. It was too bad _they_ didn't have three trips through the Capitol. Maybe they could have learned enough to stand a chance.

* * *

Tariq Bluegrass

I clawed my way out of the bed and tore my clothes off. My throat closed and I whimpered as I waited for the tickle of spider legs in my mouth. I scraped my hands over my skin and, feeling for anything alien. I shuddered and trembled as I huddled against the wall.

I couldn't have imagined anything this terrible. My allies abandoned me and what happened next was unfathomable. I was alone except for the festering, skittering legs and bodies under my skin. Every breath reminded me of how they clogged my lungs and the wall at my back pressed onto me like the sticky, itchy cocoon.

I didn't want to be alone. I didn't want anyone to be with me. I didn't want to be.

* * *

Emmalie Bluebell

The suspense was the worst of all. When I was dead, I wasn't scared. It was only after I was revived that I could appreciate that they might not have picked me. The danger was over, but the thought of what might have happened terrified me.

Each time I failed was a chance for them to lose interest in me. Even death wasn't certain anymore, and it only made it worse. I might wake up again like nothing happened, or I might not wake up at all. I wouldn't ever know it if I didn't.

* * *

Felix Veaux

There she was again, as beautiful as the last time I saw her. She had our boy with her. He must be twelve years old now. I'd seen him age in blinks. First he was nothing but a bump, too small to notice. I didn't even know he was there. Then he was a little boy, old enough to know who I was but not to understand why I couldn't stay. Now he was old enough to join me. Next time he'd be older than me.

He was twelve years old. I could see Tillo was thinking the same thing I was. She already lost me twice. She was strong enough to survive, but it meant a lifetime of watching me die. Our son might be next. I would have done anything to protect him, but I couldn't even protect myself.

* * *

Castiel Wickham

This was the last thing I wanted them to do. I wasn't part of this world. I was happy in the next one. They dragged me back to a world of pain and murder and death. I'd left all those things behind.

I wasn't afraid this time. They thought the Games were the worst thing that anyone could go through. For me, they were the best thing they could have done. I didn't have to be scared of death. It was the transition to something better and to a place where there was no evil. They could bring me back as many times as they wanted. I wasn't playing their game anymore.

* * *

Rory Harris

I'd heard about this happening. I'd even seen it on the screens. But I wasn't prepared for it to happen to me.

It was like waking up from a dream that never started. It wasn't a continuation of what was. It was like a rebirth. My body felt new and different, even if it looked the same. I knew it wasn't really mine. None of the atoms were the same. But people changed like that even in normal life. I was still me. There was something more than just my body, and that was what carried on.

I thought the Resurrection Games gave Tributes another chance. It wasn't that simple. I'd never understand what happened, and Kazuo and Ava must have felt the same. We were a new breed.

* * *

Calista Corral

I was a new person. I wanted to be different from what I was. It was the ultimate chance to reinvent myself. I didn't understand the science, but I could still change how I acted.

I was going to be more mature, for one. Less thinking about silly things like clothes and more thinking about life and the future. I wanted more friends, and that meant I had to be a better friend. I had to think about other people and remember they were as complex as I was.

I wanted friends, and I wanted to be less selfish. The change I wanted most was that this time, I wanted to be a survivor. I wasn't sure how I could do both.

* * *

Delilah Clementine

It wasn't cold anymore. Was I freezing to death? No, the Arena wasn't inside. It was something else.

 _Resurrection Games._ It was like a punch in the gut. I'd seen them before. There were dozens upon dozens of children, and still only one winner. Galba always ramped up the Arenas and the mutts. I remembered the mutts from the first Resurrection Games. They were the most horrible things any of us had ever seen. That was what I was about to go into. I didn't ask for any of this.

* * *

Zinnia Fraser

I sat up and drew back a fist to punch the Careers. They weren't there. I was in a hospital room. I couldn't have won. That only left one thing.

 _I died._ I never wanted to admit it, but I knew it was almost certain. I was just one girl and there were a lot of nasty Careers. At least all but one of them died, too. And that was only if one of them won. And it served them right.

I never liked the Resurrection Games. It doesn't count as doing a good deed to bring people back if you only do it to watch them die again. They were an excuse for the Capitol to watch even more death than usual and call it a mercy. Now I was stuck in one. I didn't think it was possible for me to like the Capitol even less, but I surprised myself.

* * *

Serena Hyland

I screamed and tried to bat away the dogs. But they weren't there. I threw the sheets over my head and huddled under the covers.

I hadn't started the Games at all. It was just a nightmare. I was still training, not that it would do any good. Whatever was in the Arena would be even worse. I couldn't dream up something like that. I wasn't like the Gamemakers.


	6. Eleven Tributes

Jay Dallas

There was another bed next to mine, which was odd. The Capitol was definitely too rich to need to put two beds in one room. Then I looked at the boy in it. He looked horribly familiar.

 _No way._ There was no way my family was so unlucky that Austin got Reaped too. And also unlucky enough that he died, and unlucky enough that he got picked to go through all this again.

 _He wasn't even old enough to get Reaped._ But even as I said it, I knew it was just an excuse. This was obviously another All-Stars. It could be fifty years in the future. He might have already fought five Games. He might not even remember me.

* * *

Austin Dallas

Just when I thought it couldn't get weirder, I saw Jay. The metaphysics of cloning were already unfathomable, but Jay and I made things weirder. Last time I was in the Arena, I kept getting these weird feelings like Jay and I were connected more closely than even brothers. If I was a hippie, I'd have thought I was his reincarnation. But I was looking at him. That was just weird.

* * *

Olivier Fowler

Now you see me, now you don't. Now I'm dead, now I'm alive. The Gamemakers were the best magicians of all. They made twenty-three kids disappear every year. Next to them, I was an amateur.

What did I have to offer? Some doves and scarves. Sleight-of-hand that would only be useful if I wanted someone to be dead before they knew what I was doing. It didn't work the first time.

The people didn't want magic. They wanted to see us die. They never cared about me outside the entertainment I could give, whether mixing up shells or dying onscreen. Magic was nothing but a trick.

* * *

Frankie Disney

Every time it happened I hoped the process would knock something loose in my head. It never did. I was as cold and flat as ever. I could think back on my death and the awful mutt that did it and not even shudder.

I didn't want to ask about Vera. She wasn't in the room with me. If she'd won, she'd moved on with her life and I wanted her to be happy. If she lost, she was either waking up just like me, or she was gone forever. If she was gone, I'd feel her loss forever. Not "feel" like the emotions I didn't have. I'd feel her inside like a black hole where something should have been.

If she was somewhere else in the building, I didn't want to make the first move. She might have changed her mind, or maybe seeing me was painful. I wouldn't blame her for leaving me. She knew I was the only one whose heart she could never break.

* * *

Apollo Wilson

Death made me stronger. Life made Pepper weaker. Before the Games, she was always the leader. It was always her idea to steal an apple or try to jump across a river. I always went along with it and it always seemed like if it was her idea, it couldn't go wrong. She was like a good luck charm protecting me.

I had to protect her now. Pepper looked as pale and delicate as ice. She was standing across the room, not looking at me. I could see the tension in her as she warded back tears. She was too afraid to look at me. We looked so different now, even though we were twins. We were farther away every time. She was afraid the next time she looked, I wouldn't be there.

* * *

Leo Serrocold

I had no idea what to expect after death. I felt myself separate from my body and then I snapped like a rubber band across I don't know where. I landed in a hospital bed.

 _This doesn't look like Heaven. But it doesn't look like Hell. Maybe it's limbo,_ I thought. I was just a normal person. Maybe they still had to sort out where I belonged. I wasn't evil, but I wasn't _that_ good.

There were still Capitolites wherever I was, which did _not_ bode well. The nurse seemed surprised that I was so confused.

"Oh, this is your first time, isn't it? Welcome to the Resurrection Games!" he said.

That just wasn't fair. Couldn't Hell just have been a fire pit or something? Eternal Hunger Games was something even Satan couldn't have thought up.

* * *

Arden Grake

They chose me to do it again. Lovely. I wasn't sure what was so impressive about getting eaten by a _plant-eating_ dinosaur. I must have given them such a laugh they wanted me to do it again. Well, the joke was on them. It wasn't likely there would be dinosaurs again in my second Arena.

 _Oh... the joke's on me._ They'd add them anyway, even if the Arena was tundra. Shoot. Only the good die young.

* * *

Azalea Meadows

Perhaps I was a _little_ overconfident. I had what it took, but a little caution never hurt anyone. This time I'd lay low until after the Bloodbath. Anything could happen there. Sometimes even Careers died. I didn't have to be crazy daring. I was smart, too, and I could win with that instead. There were a lot of Tributes this time. I should learn to look before I leap.

* * *

Vextrix Webb

"So I'm a clone?" I asked the nurse as she tried to check my vitals.

"That's right," she said.

"Where'd you get the DNA?" I asked.

"We took a sample the same time we put the trackers in," she said.

"Did you make everyone ahead of time, or did you make us to order? How long did it take? Did you have to get an egg from someone? If I win, will I live a full lifetime, or a lifetime minus seventeen years? How-"

"I don't know. They didn't tell me either. You probably shouldn't ask," she said. Maybe Hoban had more luck.

* * *

Dominique Rindelle

I was going to have a full life after all. I was just going to live it in pieces.

It was wonderful to hear there wouldn't be Careers this time. I begged the question, though, of how so many of us were going to die. Most of us didn't want to kill anyone. Most of us were scared stiff of each other. It was going to be a long, boring Games. All the more time for me to live, I suppose.

But it wouldn't be that easy. The Arena would be a volcano, or there would be more mutts than ever before. I didn't even know what dangers I was about to face.

* * *

Willow Trill

Fragments of memories and otherwordly images flooded my head. I was somewhere else, somewhere that wasn't even Earth. Then I was back where things were real, and I could hardly imagine the place I'd been.

"How are you feeling?" a nurse asked.

"Dead," I blurted. She gasped.

"I didn't expect that," she said.

"What _did_ you expect?" I asked.

* * *

Anise Haeffele

How could they do this? I already gave everything. I was dead. I should have been safe. I died the way I wanted. I did something worthwhile and I knew it was okay to go. Now I was alive again. I didn't want that pressure. Maybe this time I'd be a coward. I could ruin all the good things I did.

I didn't want to be brave anymore. I used up all my bravery because I wouldn't need it when I was dead. They brought me back because they hated goodness. They wanted me to fail. They'd probably get it.


	7. Twelve Tributes

Mouse Parentii

I didn't know how I got mixed up in this. One thing was for sure. I sorely regretted ever picking a single pocket. If I'd just been a normal kid, I wouldn't have gotten picked for the Quarter Quell. I wouldn't have had to go through the Hunger Games _three times._

I'd be a good boy if they let me go home. I learned my lesson. I wouldn't pick pockets. I wouldn't even cheat in school. I'd be a good citizen and I wouldn't give them any trouble. Hadn't I been punished enough?

* * *

Chase Enders

I got a second chance. My arm was all better, too. Most people in the first Resurrection Games seemed sad, but I was happy about it. I'd probably die again, but first I got to live for a while. Dying wasn't so bad. I could see the Games building and hang out with Nubu some more. He was really cool.

My mom didn't get a second chance, though. She was probably already dead. But that meant she didn't have to see me die again. I hoped she got to see a lighthouse before she died.

* * *

Alinta Fintan

Nubu was still with me. Was I not quite dead yet? I wasn't in the Arena anymore.

"Are we dead?" I asked. He looked sad.

"You're going back in," he said. He looked like he was going to cry.

"But what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm your mentor," he said.

"What?!" I tore off the blankets and sat up. "You won?"

"I'm sorry. I should have saved you," he said.

"No, that's great! You killed Victory and you won! That's so cool!" I said. Nubu was the coolest. He stayed with me and then he won. He was the best.

* * *

Beth O'Darielle

The Capitol had outdone themselves. They made up something called a Resurrection Games. What it meant was that I got to come back and do it all over again. They said there were no Careers this time. That meant it was my job to do all the killing for all of them. They let in everyone, which meant there were dozens upon dozens of victims for me. I could do that for them. I'd never loved Panem more.

* * *

Elara Angelo

It would never be enough for them. Over and over they'd send me back, and I had the same minuscule chance every time. It was worth dying to get to live again, but it would be better if I didn't have to go back into the Games.

It was a strange sort of survival, going back and forth between death and life. But then, Twelve was always good at survival.

* * *

Peach Unk

Of course. Of course they'd drag me into the Arena, kill me, then drag me back in. I just wanted to live my life. They wanted to not only control my life, but to give me another just so they could control that too. I had half a mind to jump out a window. That would show them.

Why couldn't they just butt out? I wasn't going to burn down the District or start a rebellion. The worst I ever tried to do was get a back alley tattoo. Ooh, they better watch out. They really dodged a bullet there.

* * *

 **I'll just do the new Tributes and then the fun can start!**


	8. Newbies

**Ivolunteerasauthor has a SYOT up called Over the Edge that needs Tributes. Might as well at least send a Bloodbath. Goodness knows we always need more of those. Except me right now.**

Lisbeth Miller

Artemis' knife snaked across my throat. My body went heavy, then light. I detached and floated away.

There was a blinding light in the distance. It seared my eyes and I shied away from it. I peeked between my fingers, expecting to see whatever it was that happened after death.

It was just a ceiling lamp. I was in a normal bed. Something was wrong.

"Good morning! How are you feeling?" a nurse asked. Did someone break the rules? Someone was about to get Avoxed. I hoped they didn't drag me down with them.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You've been selected for the Resurrection Games! Isn't that wonderful?" the woman asked.

"What the _hell_ is that?"

* * *

Merle Loveridge

I felt like I had the biggest hangover in history. My memories were muddled, my head hurt like crazy, and the light was unbearably bright. I was in no condition for the Games. When were they going to start? Tomorrow?

"Excuse me. Can you tell me your name?" a man asked as he bent over me.

"Merle Loveridge," I said automatically.

"Good. Do you know why you're here?"

"I'm about to start the Hunger Games."

""Do you know this is your second time?" he asked.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked.

"This is the Resurrection Games. Do you know what number Games this is?"

"The seventh," I said. He shook his head.

"It's been a while," he said.

* * *

Tawny Stallyon

"Can you focus on me?" the nurse said. I didn't want to her, but I looked at her face for a second. Then I looked back away.

"Do you know why you're here?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"This is a Resurrection Games. Do you know what that means?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"It means you lost your Games and you've been given a second chance," she said. She moved her face, leading me to think I was supposed to react a certain way. Darned if I knew what it was.

"Oh, okay," I said.

* * *

Sevarian Vask

I plumped up the pillows and threw the blankets over them. I jumped up and hid underneath the bed. When a man walked up to be bed, I grabbed his leg and pulled him down. I pounced out at him and wrapped my hands around his neck.

Three more men burst in and dragged me off the first man. I yanked away and ran for the door. One of the men tackled me and I tried to squirm out from under him.

I didn't think I'd rung the bell in time. Obviously I had, and it had been a trick. I should have known. These men were here to make me pay for my choice. I'd make them pay just as much.

* * *

Burgundy Lumineer

 _Not again._

I jolted up in bed and jerked my head to both sides. There was no one with me. I yanked the blankets off and searched my pants for the horrible evidence, but I was clean. My tense muscles started to relax and the hitch in my lungs cleared. A man walked into the room.

" _What happened last night?"_ I asked frantically.

"A bunch of scientists cloned you?" he asked. It didn't make any sense, but it wasn't what I'd been afraid of. The worst hadn't happened. I could deal with anything else.

* * *

Jack Void

Water. Water poured in and weighed me down. I tore at it and pushed it away and it flooded back like an undying monster. I could see the shore. It was so close. But the water wouldn't let me go. It pulled me down and swallowed me up. It got darker and darker as I sank.

Then it was gone. There was a bed, and lights, and a door. But no water. Never water, ever again.

* * *

Cooper Woodson

 _Once upon a life_

 _A boy woke up marooned in time_

 _He barely knew what was happening_

 _Before it was over and done_

 _He woke from a nightmare to find something worse_

 _Stuck in the Capitol after his death_

 _He saw his face in the tiles above him_

 _And wondered if ever he'd see it again._

* * *

 **Zach Connouis**

They really couldn't leave well enough alone. But you know what? I was over it. They wanted to shove me back in, so be it. No use crying over spilled milk. I'd enjoy the food, flirt with the ladies, and when it came time to die again, it was nothing I hadn't done before. Twice.

* * *

Pandora Sent

I could smell that I was in a hospital. I heard someone come in. The steps were soft, so it was probably a woman.

"Are the Games over?" I asked.

"They haven't started yet. Oh, right. Yeah, they're over. But they're also about to start," she said. "Oh sorry, I'm all mixed up." I waited politely for her to gather herself.

"You were eliminated last time. Now it's time to try again," she said.

"Eliminated? Like, I died?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it. Lots of people do," she said. "Now let's check on your eyes."

"They still don't work very well. No change there," I said.

"But they're so beautiful," she said.

"Thanks," I said. It was then that everything fell into place. "Wait, _I died?"!_

* * *

 **Charlene Wimbleson**

 **I'd heard of Resurrection Games. I guess I didn't think they'd really pick me. I did a good job in my last Games, but I wasn't near the top. If that boy hadn't picked a fight I might have won. As it was, I killed him first.**

 **I didn't know what to feel about the second chance. I was glad I got to finish something I'd left half-done, but I also didn't want to die again. It was scary and it hurt and it was so permanent. It took so much longer than people thought, too. I could feel my senses fading away one by one. I'd just have to see to it that it didn't happen again.**

* * *

 **These will all make more sense if you read the original stories. Notes:**

 **Lisbeth, Merle and Tawny are from Glass Glade. Merle drank a potion before Games and rendered herself paralyzed and blind. I brought her back before that and she doesn't remember it.**

 **Sevarian and Burgundy are from Garden of Roses. Burgundy reacted like that because he was raped by a woman at a party while blackout drunk.**

 **Jack is original. You're all going to figure out his deal pretty soon.**

 **Cooper is from Journey to the Top. He likes slam poetry so I wrote his POV as a slam poem.**

 **I was unable to find Jake and Mindi's original stories so I'll add them after I find them.**

 **Zach is from the first All-Stars and I just forgot to add him with the other Elevens.**

 **Oops, forgot Pandora and Charlene! They're original.**

 **If you wanted to send someone but just found out about the story, you're not too late. I knew it would happen because I write so fast, so I planned in advance that I could add Tributes in all the way up to the Bloodbath if needed. I already expect some more.**


	9. Mentoring Mishaps

**I found Jake's story and added him.**

* * *

Kazuo Braun

I looked over the list one more time and smiled.

"There's no one from One, right?" I asked the others.

"Right," Peridot said sulkily.

"This is so bogus. I'll go stir-crazy. They have to let us send _someone,"_ Azure said.

"If there's no one from One, I don't have to mentor, right?" I asked.

"You got it, babe," Peridot said. "We're stuck in the bleachers watching outlier losers sing kumbaya."

"Great! Then I'm going home!" I darted out the door and ran for the hills.

* * *

Pray Jager

No no no. I am _not_ waiting around knitting doilies while the others have all the fun. If I don't have any mentees, I'll steal someone else's.

" _Heeeeey,_ Lena," I said to the 'ling-pusher from Six. She looked at me like we'd been best friends for years.

"You and Toby have _four Tributes_ to mentor. That's a lot, right?" I asked. She pinched a lock of my hair in her fingers and rubbed it. For once, I ignored it.

"How about I help you out and take a few off your hands? Then you have more time to paint swirlies or whatever," I said. I nodded my head as I did and Lena mirrored the movement.

"Great! It's a deal! Thanks," I said, and I left her waving at my back.

* * *

Acee Hal

Triage, triage. Gizmo and Emmeline were tier one. They had good chances even if I did nothing. Electra and DeMarcus were tier two. If I devoted energy and time to them, I could improve their already present chances. Wyatt was tier three. He was a nice boy, but his chances were minimal and I couldn't improve them. I had to focus on the ones I could possibly save.

DeMarcus, Wyatt and Gizmo would be with Beetee anyway. That left Emmeline and Electra for me. Either one could win. My input might very well be the deciding factor between who came closer. That's what triage was. It was choosing life or death.

* * *

Careen Ellis

Bullcrap! My first year as mentor was the Resurrection Games and I got one Tribute! Things got even weirder when I met Vera.

"So... you're like thirty years old," I said when I met her.

"Yeah, I guess," she said.

"I'm eighteen. Guess I'm your mentor anyway. Even though you've done this twice already," I said.

"Yeah, but you won," she said.

"Thanks," I said. At least one of us was confident. "I think you know the drill by now. So, keep doing what you've been doing? Except dying, don't do that."

"See, that's great advice. You're a fine mentor," she said. Darn tootin'.

* * *

Sky Levings

Why did they keep sending Sarla back? I didn't want to be the one responsible for showing her how to survive. Wasn't it enough to kill her without defiling her grave?

At least Skyler and Lyra had a chance. Lyra was tougher than she looked and Skyler was competent.

"This is a Resurrection Games. I think the most important thing to prepare for is the Arena. It's going to be weird. And so are the mutts. I think we all remember what happened last time," I said. Snow was even worse than Galba. I suspected he wanted to show her up, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

Pray Jager

"All right, Six, are you ready to _win_ for once?" I barked at Addie, Velvet, Ree, Hadley, and Lyte.

"Where's Toby and Lena?" Velvet asked.

"Off shooting up somewhere. You get me this time," I said. Ree looked awestruck and also like she was about to cry.

"I don't think so. Find someone else," Lyte said. He walked out of the room without waiting for my answer.

 _Well what do you know?_ Six _did_ have something with guts. And he walked out on me.

* * *

Sequoia Wilson

Panem's history was in front of me. Decades of Games were staring back at me and it was horribly unnerving.

"All right, anyone have any questions?" I asked.

"Can we call our families?" River asked.

"Yeah, it'll be good for ratings. We'll behave," Junie said. Ever stayed quiet. It broke my heart, since her family had probably moved on.

"I'll see what I can do," I said. I had no idea what the rules were. But this was a Resurrection Games. There were no rules.

* * *

Tillo Peters

What a mix. What a mixed-up hodgepodge. I had an overgrown porcelain doll, a nutjob bean-counter, a sexist she-pig, an indomitable crusader, and one fraidy cat. I was out of my league even if I _did_ care. Whoever was going to win, it was a mystery for me. Out of my group, my money was on... maybe the bean-counter? I just hoped it wasn't the she-pig.

* * *

Crag Steiner

If Pray could do it, so could I. My Tributes- all right, the ones I stole from Chimera because he wasn't around and he was a pansy anyway- weren't the most inspiring bunch. However, I could remember a few kids who started at the Academy as hopeless weaklings and developed into something worth training.

"Playtime's over, everyone. As of now, you're in my boot camp. It's going to be hard and painful and everything you hate. At the end, one of you might earn my respect. Ready?" I bellowed. Silence reigned as the Tributes looked at me in terror. We were off to a good start.

* * *

Bambi Kirkland

All three of my mentees were nobler than I was. Castiel actually killed himself so someone else could win. Rory died saving his friends. Felix was trying his best to be a father for one day every five or so years. I would have gone to my own mentor for comfort, but Cornflower was better than me, too. She didn't kill anyone.

I had to focus on the positive. I killed two people. If I brought back two Victors, I could make it up. If I needed these Tributes to live as much as they did. No more thinking about death. I needed to think about life.

* * *

Pepper Wilson

Mars was taking care of Apollo. I wanted to see him every second of every day. I didn't want to look at him at all. I wanted to help him train. I wanted Mars to do it so if I lost him again, it wasn't my fault.

 _I couldn't do it again._ Having him with me only made the memory of not having him more painful than the actual experience. Seeing him was a reminder that I only had him for a few days.

When I won, I thought I beat them all. Even the Capitol couldn't kill me. Now I knew they could still break me. They were so close.

* * *

Nubu Sanders

Jack took one look at me and wandered off into the unknown. I would have stopped him, but he was giving us all the creeps. Peridot from One asked if she could help Beth and Beth was totally into it, so she left as well.

"This is Nubu, everyone. He's the best Victor. He helped me before I died," Alinta helpfully introduced me to everyone.

"He could have helped you not die," Peach said. Alinta glared at her like a thousand suns.

"I was already pretty much dead. _Rude,"_ she said.

"He showed me a lighthouse," Chase added.

"I want to see a lighthouse!" Mouse said. Hopefully before the Games started we could do some training.

* * *

 **Jake Diaz**

 **One minute I'm getting stabbed by a playing card, the next I'm in a hospital bed. Panem is weird.**

 **"Good morning. Are you feeling all right?" a man asked as he walks to my bed.**

 **"I guess. That's really not the problem," I said. "What's going on?"**

 **"They told me to be extra careful with you. You're the oldest one here. You're older than me!" the man said.**

 ** _I thought this was Wonderland. Now it's Rip Van Winkle? Why couldn't they just kill me normally?_**

 **"Look, am I dead or not? I don't have time for this," I said.** ** _Actually if I'm dead I have plenty of time._**

 **"You** ** _were_** **dead. Now you're alive again for the Resurrection Games," the man said.**

 **"Heck are those?" I asked.**

 **"Every few years we bring a bunch of dead Tributes back to see who will win," the man.**

 ** _I've lost it. I'm nuts._** **"Oh, cool. Wait, every few years? What year is it?" I asked.**

 **"It's been thirty-nine years."**

* * *

 **It appears the mentors have decided that if Snow breaks rules, so can they. Most of the other Careers are also trying to muscle their way in and are already planning to raid Pray and Craig. Toby and Lena are enjoying their inadvertent vacation and are graffiti-ing the Games building. Chimera is gone because he was so brokenhearted about Diggory that he has requested a year off to mourn.**

 **Charlene's submitter decided she'd be better in a normal Games where she'll get normal representation and not get lost among, at last count, 74 Tributes. That gives me a break too, so I don't mind. 73 is a little easier to write at least. I anticipate there will be a huge Bloodbath this year.**


	10. The Show Must Go On

Cilantro Pestle

So much work to be done. I had to make _five_ children looks fabulous.

"Since there's a theme this time, we must be sure you all match, but also that you all shine individually. I hope I get it right. But then, if I don't, I'll be seeing most of you again soon!"

They weren't pleased with that.

* * *

Rouge Twain

 _So_ unfair. I only got _two_ Tributes! I was the best stylist here and I was stuck with two girls! I didn't even get _any_ boys! My job was very important. If Careen hadn't looked so amazing, she wouldn't have gotten so many sponsors and she wouldn't have won! I was a _gift_ to Panem! They were wasting my talents if they only gave me _two girls._

* * *

Blush Paletti

I was very happy to see Gabriel back. He and Delilah were so cute last time, coming into each others' salons and peeking to see if they matched. All the other Tributes were nice too, but I had a soft spot for Gabriel. I hoped he did better this time.

* * *

Puff Auri

"OMG, who's ready to look beautiful?!" I asked all the girls... and Lyte.

"I am!" Addie said.

"I guess," Velvet said.

"Can I wear lots of glitter? I like glitter," Lyte said.

"OMG yes! You can have _so much glitter! EVERYONE can have glitter!"_

* * *

Flora Kettle

"Who styles Harlequin?" Des asked.

"She has her own personal stylist," I said.

"Do you know her?" Des asked.

"Amicus? Yeah, I see him around," I said.

"Lucky stiff," Des said. "Wish I could look in there."

"Yes, Harlequin _is_ quite lovely, isn't she?" I asked.

* * *

Baste Marinade

"I have had a wonderful idea!" I said to the boys.

"Cool, what is it?" Blaise asked.

"Why don't you all train and get good at fighting? Then you won't die!" I said.

"Are there brains in there or just sequins?" Torchy asked.

"In where?" I asked.

* * *

Mint Goblet

"You were in the Quarter Quell, right?" I asked Emmalie.

"Yeah, that was me," she said.

"Why would anyone vote for a cute little girl like you?" I asked.

"I steal stuff," she said.

"Why would you do that?" I asked.

"To buy food," she said.

"That's silly. Why didn't you just buy it?" I asked.

* * *

Phoebe Vane

I was very excited for my first Resurrection Games. There was so much to be inspired by. Fashion _lives_ and fashion _translates._ Ten was a District of Resurrection. It was there every spring with the new animals and the changing seasons. There were lines and angles and points of view. I could see the muse descending on me. Fashion would live through me.

* * *

Creme Brulee

"Now, Zach- _don't touch that, Apollo!_ Ja- Austin, look out! Would you all quit moving around! Careful, that's gold leaf! No glitter in the carpet, it'll never come out! We do _not_ eat lipgloss! I don't care if it's cherry-flavored! Good heavens, Azalea, you'll break your neck! That's nail polish _not face paint!_ Hands off the underwear drawer! _Put that back!_

* * *

Cuisine Martinique

"What a colorful bunch! You're from way back in the Quarter Quell. What was that like? I heard you and Myrtle were a thing. Is that true? Lamia told me you two found a little corner in the Arena the camera couldn't see. So romantic! Oh Jack, why so grumpy? Ooh, we should have you stand next to Chase, Alinta. You're so cute together! Commodus told me one time he was styling and..."

* * *

 **For once, a shorter than normal chapter! One and Two didn't have any so Hollan and Tigris are sulking.**

 **It looks like it's out of the frying pan and into the fire for Ten. This might be worse than cows.**


	11. Parade

**The Careers are all looking for mentees. If you wanted your Tribute to get mentored by them, they're mentoring anyone brave enough to ask. I'll just remember it and make a note.**

* * *

Polyphemus Ignotus

"Can you hear me, everyone? Because I can hardly head myself. It's standing room only here at the parade, and it's no surprise. Everyone remembers what happened last time, and everyone wants a piece of it this time! Our only disappointment is that we're not going to see One and Two. But I'm sure the others will make up for their loss.

Oh, my! I'm... I can't believe this! I thought last time was good, but _this_ is something else! The Tributes are standing on a platform suspended between a pair of silver elephants! They're throwing handfuls of tiny robots that are flying around over the audience flashing rainbow lights. I didn't even notice their outfits! The five Tributes are wearing sleek one-piece suits that are flashing scenes from their previous Games! What I wouldn't give to be in the front row and not up in this box.

Ha ha, Four actually only has Two Tributes. Their elephants are blue, of course. Vera and Celestial each have a water gun and they're having a wonderful time soaking the audience. Vera is dressed as a slender shark and Celestial is an angelfish. Oh dear, Vera just sprayed Celestial.

Five's elephants are bright yellow. The Tributes are all floating under bundles of balloons tied to the elephants. I don't know what it means, and they're not throwing anything, either. Oh, my! They all turned and pointed at once at the ceiling. As soon as they did, confetti suns and stars showered on the audience

Six is riding in on black elephants with white stripes. They're wearing race car outfits, which makes sense, since they're riding around the platform in circles in go-karts. They only stop to throw multicolored paper airplanes into the crowd. The only question is why are their outfits covered in glitter?

Wouldn't you know it, Seven's elephants are brown. Each is wearing an outfit- suits for the boys, dresses for the girls- made of a different kind of leaf. Most of them are throwing little wood carvings, but River is just holding hers and staring at it. It's a box, I think. She looks like she's crying. I hope she's all right.

For the textile District, there are tie-dyed elephants. The Tributes wear matching (matching? If that's possible) tie-dye outfits. There's quite a few of them on the platform, and they have to squeeze to stay clear of the edges. They're each throwing dolls into the crowd, and when I look closely, I can see each is throwing stuffed versions of themselves.

Nine's elephants are as golden as hay. The Tributes look itchy in outfits made in different types of grain, but they're soldiering on. It seems the tables have turned! Today, the Tributes sponsor us! The rolls and buns they're throwing have white parachutes attached. Except Miller. He's eating his. But Cooper just threw one so hard it went all the way to the back row!

What a surprise. Ten's elephants are black and white. But the Tributes are anything but. I see their new sponsor is a much more avant-garde mind. The diaphonous angles of the protuberant structures speak to Ten's soul, and the varied emotions evoked by the movement is truly phenomenal. And of course, what else would they be throwing but model farm animals.

Eleven can hardly fit on the pair of green elephants. All their garments are made of fruits and vegetables, and if Jay doesn't stop nibbling we're going to have a wardrobe malfunction. Oops! Willow just about fell off the platform. Good thing Anise pulled her back. Now that they're all settled, they're throwing sugared fruit slices out for the crowd.

Twelve's elephants are black as coal. They're dressed as prospectors and they're a mixed bunch. Alinta, Merle, Chase and Mindi are throwing their gold like normal. Mouse things I didn't notice him slipping his nuggets into his shirt. Jack and Beth just look bored, and Peach is winging her nuggets as hard as she can right at the Capitolites.

I knew this would be a good show, and it didn't disappoint. On the contrary, I was blown away. I'm sorry you all weren't here to see this in person. In a city full of spectacle, this is something we'll never forget."

* * *

 **Miller never disappoints.**

 **I have some questions for you all. In order to add more info to the Wiki, I have some polls that you, being representatives of Panem, can answer if you want. You can add it to your reviews if it's easy or PM if you have more in-depth answers.**

 **-Current tributes, attractive poll (1 being the most attractive and 74 being a no)- That's more complicated, so top tens and top ugliest are enough if you don't want to rank 74 people**  
 **-Current Tributes, popularity poll (1 meaning they have sponsors everywhere, 74 meaning they have nothing really)**  
 **-Top 5 best dressed current tributes (so chariot costumes, everyday and interviews)**  
 **-What tribute the Capitol are betting to win**  
 **-What tribute the Capitol are betting will die first - no idea who will win this one**  
 **-Top 5 most attractive tributes ever (includes victors)**  
 **-Most popular Victor**


	12. A Mistake and Some Jaymen

**Here's Pandora, finally part of the parade. Sorry for the delay.**

 **Polyphemus Ignotus**

 **"** **It's finally starting! Here comes One on-** ** _not_** **horses! It's elephants! I see what they're going for, but it's still funny to see Pandora standing all alone between those two huge animals. She looks a little self-conscious, but there's no need to be. She looks resplendent in her flowing dress covered in hundreds of jewels. Its flowing train takes up all that room she has left on the platform. But Pandora's more interested in the elephants. She's leaning over the platform and petting them. They return the favor with their wiggly trunks."**

* * *

Jay Dallas

Pepper, Orchard and Mars were a little overloaded, so we took matters into our own hands. Obviously I was going to ally with Austin and my buddy Zach. After a little courting, I added Cooper and Leo to the mix. DeMarcus wanted in and brought Blaise with him. I brought the whole trio up to the first Career I saw.

"Hey, you're Makarios, right? The first Career?" I asked. Makarios was enviously watching the other mentors try to corral their half-dozen kids.

"Yeah, what's it to ya?" he said.

"Our mentors are a little busy. Can we train with you?" I asked.

" _Now_ you're talking," Makarios said. He looked the group over. " _You_ should go the survival station," he said to Blaise. "The rest of you all come with me. Let's see if you can take on one rusty old Career."

* * *

Logan Quinn

The training room was a madhouse. There were so many Tributes crowding in that any trainer that was able to move their station, like the guy with the plants projector, moved out into the hall. I saw a bunch of boys surrounding Makarios and made my way over. They knew what they were doing.

"Hey, you guys an alliance?" I asked.

"Yeah," one of the boys said.

"You the leader?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm Jay," he said.

"You want another member?" I asked.

"You got what it takes?" Jay asked.

"I've pulled bits on another boys' bones out of my fist," I said. Jay's brother- at least he looked like it- winced.

"Sounds like it to me," Makarios interjected. Jay concurred.

"All right, come on in. Maybe now you won't be so cocky," he said, switching his attention back to Makarios.

* * *

Jake Diaz

 _A fight? Oh I want_ in!

I didn't ask for an invitation before jumping into the brawl. Some Career mentor was throwing around eight other boys. It obviously wasn't a serious fight, since the boys went in turn and didn't just dogpile the Career, but it still looked fun.

"Hey! You're not with those guys," Makarios objected as he tossed me.

"Quit whining and fight," I said. I quickly regretted it. Makarios didn't win for nothing.

Before long everyone was out of breath and exhausted. The only one not panting was Makarios. The other boys gathered around to get feedback on the fight. I started to take my leave.

"Hey, why don't you stay around? You're good," one of the boys said.

"What, is this a club or something?" I asked.

"It's an alliance," the boy said.

"Are there going to be more fights?" I asked.

"All the time," the boy said.

"In that case, I'm in."

* * *

Austin Dallas

"The old coot was right," Makarios said with a strange smile.

"What old coot?" Jay asked.

"That Mann nutcase. He's some batty old socialite who kept talking about how he calculated this bunch of Tributes were 'compatible'. He dropped obscene amounts of money campaigning to have them all resurrected. But sure enough, you're already halfway there," he said.

"Wait, you mean us?" I asked.

"Yeah, all you kids. You're still missing one, though. Give batty old Jaye a break and see if Leo wants to join. Honestly I'll be a little spooked if he does," Makarios said.

"It's not _that_ unreasonable. Of course me, Jay and Zach would ally. DeMarcus is a lot like Jay, and so is Jake. Blaise came with DeMarcus," I said.

"Yeah, it's still a little weird though," Makarios said. And it was.

* * *

Blaise Wesley

 _Drat._ All the other boys got to fight the cool Career and I was on homemaker duty. Maybe I was the youngest, but I was only three months younger than DeMarcus. I could fight. I wasn't a baby.

"Hey bro, mind if I squeeze in?" another boy said. He was from Eleven too, but there were a lot of us.

"I'm Leo," he said.

"I'm Blaise," I said. I angrily braided a rope.

"I didn't think many people would be at this station. Most people want to fight," Leo said.

"Fighting's overrated," I said bitterly.

"I'm more of a lover," Leo said. We both made horrified expressions at the same time. "That didn't come out right. I'm not really a killer."

"Guess I'm not either," I said.

"You got any allies? You seem cool," Leo said.

"I know a few kids. You can come meet them if you want," I said.

"That sounds cool," Leo said.

* * *

Leo Serrocold

"Who, me? I don't know. You all seem pretty tough. I'm more a runner than a fighter," I said.

"You can't win the Games just by fighting," Jay said. "We need to spread out. You could learn something like cooking or first aid."

"That's more my style," I admitted. It would be nice to see more of Blaise. He seemed like a nice kid. There were so many killers around here. It made me sick for all the little kids mixed up with them.

"So you'll join?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, why not?" I said. I didn't know how long it would last, though. Jay and his buddies seemed pretty close. I didn't fit in as much.

Austin gave Makarios a smirk as we came over, and Makarios shook his head in disbelief. They must have had a bet or something.

* * *

Cooper Woodson

Well give Jaye Mann my regards. Darned if he wasn't right. But it was funny how we left to find a new mentor because ours was overloaded, and now our alliance was big enough that Makarios was just as swamped.

"All right, line up. Jay and Austin, you two work on swords. I've seen you fight, and you always end up working together. You anticipate each other. Work on that. Blaise and Leo, you can do anything related to infrastructure. You can't fight without food. DeMarcus and Logan, you two know street fighting. Find the martial arts instructors and work on refining your style. Jake, you play baseball, right? Get used to holding a mace instead. Cooper... what do you do?" he said.

"I guess we need an archer," I said. We didn't have any long range fighters.

"Good idea. Try to learn something like that- maybe a spear or a crossbow. Regroup here in an hour," Makarios said. Everyone fell out to their assigned tasks.

I liked being the only one on long-range. I could attack from far away and cover my buddies. They wouldn't even have to fight if I _really_ got good.

* * *

DeMarcus King

I could tell a brother right away.

"I didn't know you had gangs in Five. I thought it was just Three," I said to Logan.

"I guess it's all the urban Districts," Logan said. "Probably Six too."

We called ourselves the Viruses," I said. I held one hand in front of the other in our double split-finger sign.

"We were the Blazers," Logan said. He curled his fingers into a B on one hand and wiggled the fingers on his other hand like flames.

"That's pretty cool," I said.

"Yours too," he said. Back home, we probably would have killed each other by now, but here, we were allies. It didn't feel like I was betraying my gang. It was more like I just added Logan to it.

"Wish we'd had you in the Viruses," I said. He only nodded, but I got the meaning.

"Guess we're in another gang now. Maybe we need a new sign," I said.

"We don't even have a name," Logan said. I looked at my hands.

"Let's see. Jay's the leader, so let's start there." I stuck out my pointer finger and curled my thumb to make a J. "There's eight of us." I touched my ring finger on my other hand to my thumb in the standard sign for 8. "How's that?"

"Looks pretty sweet. Let's show the others," Logan said. Before, we were allies. Now we were brothers.


	13. Four Chicks and Two Dudes

**Yeah Pandora threw jewels.**

* * *

Electra Magneta

Des waltzed right up to Pray and asked for help. I could never be that brave. I knew Acee and I was familiar with her. Naturally Emmeline and I fell in together since we were both techhead Threes. Then there was Gizmo, who was rougher around the edges but still a Three. We stuck together. This time around, I didn't feel as friendly toward other people. I wanted to stick closer to people I knew.

I stayed in one place during training since there was a bit of a mishap cloning me. I was six inches taller than I used to be and I kept falling all over when I tried to walk. It was nice to not be so short I was looking Des in the boobs all the time, but this was no time to learn how to walk.

Des took care of getting more allies. She was a lot sweeter and more open than I was. I didn't feel close to anyone but her, but I was glad she was getting more allies. Us Threes would be good for an indoor Arena. Des would be good for the outdoors. What we still needed was heavy hitters for the first fight. And it was best not to get attached to that sort of Tribute.

* * *

Pandora Sent

The Capitol didn't fix my eyes, which left us with a problem. Without glasses I couldn't see. With glasses I had a tool I could use to make a fire. They ended up giving me flexible contact lenses. I didn't like them and it was weird having a film on my eyes. I didn't wear them much. Glasses barely helped anyway.

Someone like me had no business firing an arrow, so I stuck to the plants station.

"How are you doing that if you can't see?" A girl asked as I sorted the leaves.

"I smell them. This one's way tangier than this one," I said as I held up two leaves. "This one smells like peppermint. And I know the spicy parsnip one is hemlock."

"Wow, do you know all of them?" the girl asked.

"I can usually tell if one's poisonous. They often have acid that irritates my skin," I said.

"You're like a superhero! You got any allies?" the girl asked.

"Not yet," I said. Whoever she was, I liked her. She wasn't gloomy like so many Tributes.

"Want some?" she asked.

"If it's you, okay," I said.

* * *

Gizmo Torrens

 _There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.-_ Sun Tzu

What was important was finding the combination of allies that would yield success. An army needed tacticians. That would be me, Electra and Emmalie. It needed scouts. That was Pandora. It needed someone to rally it. That was Des. It also needed infantry, and that was what Des and I were trying to find. In the crowded training room, it was hard to see anyone in particular.

"How about him?" I said, pointing at Apollo. "He got to the top five last Resurrection Games."

"Sounds cool," Des said. We approached him as he threw some weights around.

"Hey, we need some muscle. You got some muscle?" Des asked. Apollo flexed.

"Does it look like it?" he asked. "See anything you like?" If only he knew. Des was the wrong girl to ask.

"I guess you'll do. We'll see what you got," Des said.

"Glad I made the grade," Apollo said. Our army was nearing completion.

* * *

Emmeline Blythe

The last Games was based on life- the phoenix, the Maya legends, the rainforest. This Games would be based on death. I predicted a barren Arena. Perhaps a battleground or a crematorium. It was likely to be urban in some portion, which would mean easier access to electronics. It also meant better shelter, which would reduce the number of competitors that would die from exposure.

Also, this wasn't a normal Games. We had to expect some new twist. I suspected it would be a totally new element to the Games. Perhaps Capitolites would be allowed to hunt us in the Arena, or anyone who didn't kill another Tribute within a certain period would be blown up. It was difficult to know what to expect with so little information. I had to prepare for as many possibilities as possible and hope I got the right one.

* * *

Eve Sable

I sort of fell into my alliance. I ended up as one of the primary fighters, even though I wasn't that tough. I knew how to use knives. Emmeline said that would scare a lot of people off, because knives were a messy way to die. I hoped she was right.

There were way too many of us for Cornflower to mentor. _One_ of us was too many for Cornflower to mentor. Lucky the Careers were happy to step up.

"You use knives? Ever try throwing them?" Hyden asked. I wasn't used to light throwing knives, but it was worth a shot. If it meant I didn't have to get near other Tributes, I was in.

Throwing knives were completely different from normal knives. It was hard enough to make them hit the target, much less blade first. I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to be useful.

* * *

Desiree Redwood

 _Hey Sexy Lady,_

 _How's life for Panem's prettiest face? You probably get this a lot, but I just wanted to tell you how cool you are. I can't wait to interview with you again. It almost makes up for dying. First off, you're gorgeous, but second off, you're also hilarious and merciless. Career interviews used to be so boring, but you take no crap. Did you know you were my very first crush? I hope that's not creepy, but you're probably used to it. You should have seen my reaction when I heard about you and Theodora!_

 _It must be weird having such unconventional influence over the Games. The interviewer is supposed to make all the Tributes shine, and Seutonius always tried super hard. You don't even give a crap. If someone pisses you off, there go their sponsors! You've probably determined the Victor of more than one Games._

 _I should probably get back to training. If you want, you can keep this on your mirror or something. Then I'll be jealous of a piece of paper. If I win, look me up in Seven sometime. I'll show you the sights ;)_

 _Your Number One Fan,_

 _Desiree_

* * *

Apollo Wilson

Pepper was being such a turd. She was mad at me for dying and she wouldn't train me. Well maybe I wouldn't have DIED if we'd TRAINED together more. Fine. I can keep myself busy.

"Hey, pretty lady. Good to see you on the Victor side of things. How's life been?" I said to Ava. She was a lovely as ever, even if the Capitol messed her all up and sucked all the meat off her bones. Some people liked their women so skinny. All types are pretty and all, but I liked me some boobies.

"Hey, handsome. Good to see you back giving maidens trouble," Ava said, but she blushed.

"Don't tell me you're still single? A hot fox like you?" I said.

"Guess I've been waiting for the right man," Ava said.

"Well your wait is over," I said.

"You have to come back first," Ava said.

"I'd have a better chance with a good mentor," I said.

"Who did you have in mind?" she asked.

* * *

 **Since someone asked, Castiel is with Vextrix and her allies. Also, Reiner wants into Vera's alliance. Frankie isn't sure about a large alliance but if Reiner isn't allowed in Lyte will spend most of his time with Reiner because they're best friends.**


	14. No Duh and Lucky Seven

**LOL I forgot Ever! Lucky thing the name still works.**

* * *

Daniel Mondins

In the nightmare, I fought the boy who killed Sarla with a sword, but he killed me. I had to be better than that. All day long I practiced at the sword station. I didn't want to leave until it was time for me to go into the tube. I was no good when I started out, but I got better every hour.

There were so many reasons I had to keep Sarla safe. First, I was her brother. That's what big brothers do. I loved her and I'd rather die myself than watch her get hurt. But there was more than that.

Panem needed people like Sarla. She was sweet and kind and caring. She made Panem a better place. We could do without the Careers and the killers. If they died, Panem was better off. People like them were the reason the Games even existed. But Sarla was different. She was going to grow into such a beautiful, priceless woman. People like her helped others. They were the kind of people who would get the Games abolished forever.

Even the Games didn't change Sarla. I'd seen the footage of her in the mangrove after I died. She met a little boy and made friends right away. They stayed together and laughed until the Capitol sent a crocodile to kill them both. They didn't want people like them to live.

Even I wasn't important. I hated the Capitol for what they did and I hated the Tributes who put themselves before others. If I had the chance, I'd execute the Gamemakers. Sarla would want them to be jailed or at worse exiled. She cared about people. She was a rarity in Panem, and without her kind, there was no hope for any of us.

* * *

Sarla Mondins

Daniel thought he was protecting me. I was protecting him, too. I kept him away from the other Tributes and anyone who might tell him the truth. He was so protective of me. I didn't want him to ever know the truth. He'd think he failed me.

I wished Timber was here. I could be a kid with him. I didn't have to watch out for Daniel and make sure he was all right. I wanted to tell him it wasn't so bad if I died again. It was hard staying alive. There wasn't much in Panem worth living for. He didn't have to worry about me if we were both dead.

I was at the first aid station, but I wasn't paying much attention. It was so useless to learn first aid for the Games. The entire point of the Games was to kill people. I couldn't learn enough in a few days to fight against that. It would be better to learn to run.

If Daniel and I didn't do very well, they wouldn't want to pick us again next time. As long as it wasn't slow, I didn't mind dying. I just hoped that whatever happened, Daniel didn't see it.

* * *

Junie Brett

It was weird seeing River in the training room. Her hair wasn't as short time time- it was more of a bob. That wasn't the weird thing, though. It was seeing _her._

When I was in the Arena the first time, I thought about River a lot. She went so much farther than Seven had gone in the last few years. She was so strong, and if Bambi hadn't gotten so fierce, she probably would have won. Ever since I got up I'd felt bitter and depressed, but seeing River reminded me of what I'd been before.

I was at the first aid station with Lyte while I watched River. He was one of the cheeriest of the Tributes, like none of this bothered him at all. I wished I could be so serene. I saw River was about to leave and jumped up before I lost my nerve.

"You did really well last time," I said when I reached her.

"Not well enough to win," she said.

"We were all rooting for you," I said.

"Thanks," she said. I blurted the next words out.

"In fact, if you wanted an ally or something, that would be really cool," I said. She hesitated and looked like she didn't want to hurt my feelings.

"It's okay. You don't have to-" I started.

"No, that's a good idea. I do need an ally," she said. "Obviously I can't win alone."

Lyte made triumphant finger guns at me as I went back to our station. Already I felt like there might be hope after all. River came so close last time. This time we were going to make it.

* * *

River Summers

" _Like losing the last bit of you..."_

I didn't think they'd let me talk to my father. Then when I did, I expected him to be happy. I should have known he'd be heartbroken. He watched me die.

The Capitol couldn't even let me talk to my father without making it a show. When they heard I wanted to contact him, they sent a Capitolite reporter with a camera so everyone could see what Seven was like without me. The entire nation gawked as my father bared his heart.

"When you cut your hair, it was like losing the last bit of you," my father said. I'd only wanted a better chance to get back to him. I never thought I could hurt him more. The cameraman followed him into another room.

"It's still here," my father said raggedly. He pointed to a shrine in one corner and revealed our chest. My ribs tightened as I looked at something that brought us together for so long.

"I call it _Her Unfinished Masterpiece,"_ he said, and he was quiet for a minute. "Your unfinished masterpiece. My biggest regret."

I thought about it a lot when the call was over. I cut off my hair and hardened my heart so I could get rid of the fear, but I needed that fear. Fear was what would drive me to get back home. Nothing was worse than the fear that I'd break his heart again.

* * *

Ever Fellows

River was tough. I was glad she was on my side, but I didn't look forward to what would happen after we split up. Junie would probably be dead by then, but River wouldn't. I could see in her eyes that she was going all the way this time. And she was smart. Last time she died largely because her opponent was so much taller. She was training with a longsword this time.

I already had my weapon. I'd been throwing knives for years, even taking out all that time I was dead. Not much had changed in Panem at large- except the new president- but the Tributes seemed entirely different from the children I grew up with. They were more complicated and for them, the Games had been around so long a culture had developed around it. I felt like a relic.

I'd have to work hard to get sponsors. Out of sight, out of mind. A lot of the Tributes had died last year or a bit before that. People remembered them and wanted to help them. I was a ghost from almost twenty years ago. I wasn't as cute as the little kids and not as safe a bet as the strongest Tributes. I was in the middle. The Games were no place for mediocrity. There was no middle there, only first or last.


	15. She-Woman Man Haters

Haber Dasher

Time to round up the usual suspects. With upwards of seventy Tributes, we could make a veritable Valkyrie army. Skills didn't matter. Women had to help all of their sisters.

I didn't even notice we had an animal calls station, but there was a girl there. She was listening carefully to the recordings and blowing a whistle.

"Hey, what you up to?" I asked.

"Trying to learn enough to stay alive," she said. "How about you?"

"I'm building an army," she said. "I need as many allies as I can get."

"You're going to ally with everyone?" she asked.

"No, just the girls. We have to have solidarity," I said.

"What does that matter?" the girl asked.

"Haven't you ever felt the power of female friendship? If we stick together, there's nothing we can't do. We have to pull each other up and encourage each other to become greater," I said.

"So, like a real army? That sounds important," the girl said. "I've been trying to get better at making friends. That sounds like a good way to start. Can I join the army?" she asked.

"Of course. We're sisters," I said. "I'm Haber."

"I'm Calista," the girl said. And the crusade began.

* * *

Emmalie Bluebell

"So let me see if I have this right. If I join your army, you'll support me, share your supplies with me, help me in fights, and treat me if I'm wounded?" I asked.

"Of course," Haber said proudly.

"Heck _yeah,"_ I said. "Count me in."

Haber looked so pleased I'd joined her harpy brigade. I didn't care about solidarity or sisterhood. I'd pick a woman's pocket as soon as a man's. Teamwork and warm fuzzies were fine for her, and they were fine if it meant she'd charge in and fight if someone came after me. She might think I'd do the same for her. She could go ahead and think that. I didn't have time for cooperation and girl power. I only cared about surviving.

I liked the benefits. I didn't care about the cause. Haber had her head in the sand if she thought girls were perfect angels. Some were. Some were little devils. In the end, anyone will stab you in the back, no matter what their pants held.

The Games were dog-eat-dog world. Boy eats girl, girl eats boy, girl eats girl, I didn't care as long as I was top dog.

* * *

Calista Corral

I was part of something important now. I had sisters to care for. They were my friends just because we were in the same alliance, and I wanted them to be my friends because they liked me as well.

I didn't even know where to start. Haber had lots of friends and she made them so easily. I should be more like her. I should be open and outgoing, and I should be passionate. I should spend a lot of time with my teammates and make sure I knew what they needed. Whenever I saw other girls, I'd be sure to ask if they wanted to join. Some of them might be shy.

I should be a useful team member, too. I listened even more closely to the recordings and practiced until I could do them myself. It seemed useless, but that's how Hyden won his Games. I could call food for us or make it seem like some dangerous animal was coming near so the Careers wouldn't look for us. If I got _really_ good I could sneak up near the Careers and imitate one of them so they went away or whatever.

It was good to have friends. I was glad we were in the same alliance so they wouldn't leave me. I just had to make sure I was nice so they stayed even if Haber died.

* * *

Lyra Axelle

I was glad to join Haber's alliance. She died before I was a Tribute, so she didn't know who I was before. I could just be a normal girl and no one had to know I was the mayor's kid.

Honestly, though, Haber was a little odd. Girl power's nice and all, but boys are kind of important for keeping humanity going. Equally important, I'd say, even if women did the hard part when it came to babies.

"Are you in the army too?" a girl asked when I joined the group.

"Yeah, you could say that," I said. It was silly calling it an army when there were four of us, but she seemed so enthusiastic.

"I'm Calista. I'm so glad you joined," she said.

"I'm Lyra. From Five," I said.

"It's hard to remember when there are so many of us," Calista said.

"Yeah, tell me about it," I said.

"When we're done training, you want to hang out? We can see the Games building," Calista said. I got the feeling she didn't have many friends, but I couldn't see why. Maybe she was a little overeager, but she wasn't annoying.

"Sure. Sounds fun," I said. Calista seemed so happy I started to warm up to the idea. Maybe we'd have fun.


	16. And A Little Child Shall Lead

**Wow! I think this is the biggest.**

* * *

Alinta Fintan

I was super excited to see Silver got picked too. Right away I started telling her everything that happened after she died.

"I almost won! I got third place. After I got shot, Nubu found me and stayed with me until I died. Guess what happened after that!" I said.

"What?" she asked.

"This is so cool. My cannon went off, see? Nubu hid me under some branches and took the arrow out of me. He held up to his chest and waited until Victory found me. She thought it was _his_ cannon so she walked right up. He bashed her with his shield and stabbed her with a machete and won!" I said.

"I wish I could have seen it," Silver said. "How would you feel about some more allies?"

"You want to get a bunch of other little kids, don't you?" I said. Silver was such a mama bear. It was always "help the children" or "they're so scared". We're not as scared as she thinks. But it _is_ nice to have an ally.

* * *

Alice Silvin

It was great to be with Anise again. Even after the spider got her, she didn't really feel gone. I thought she went to Wonderland at first, but I think I was wrong about that. She wasn't really a normal person like me. I saw her again when I was about to die, and now I knew what she was. She was a guardian angel. That's why she wasn't afraid to die. She just went back to her world. It looked like Silver was one, too.

Mouse wasn't an angel, but he was still cool. He kept pestering me and talking to me. I was starting to think he liked me.

"So, you seeing anyone?" he asked.

"I was just _dead!_ And I'm twelve years old," I said.

"Really you're way older than that," he said.

"Nice try, but that would mean you're _really_ old, you cradle robber," I said.

"Drat," he said.

"Next you'll say I only live once," I said.

"I already died once. My heart can't stand to stop again. Have mercy," he said.

Oh well. You only live twice.

* * *

Addie Child

How did I end up with the babysitting brigade? My allies were a bunch of little kids and their two self-appointed guardians. This was a charity case, not an alliance.

They _were_ making me look better. And sponsors liked an underdog story. I didn't want the little squirts to die, either. They were nice kids. I'd do what I could.

If I wanted sponsors, I needed to play the game. I knew about gymnastics, but this was no time to get rusty. I practiced on the agility and rope courses so when private sessions came, I'd be ready. The stronger Tributes wouldn't target me because I could do a cartwheel, but the ones looking for the easiest pickings would keep looking.

Last time there was a Resurrection Games, they pulled out all the stops. There were the insane mutts and the crazy number of Tributes. They wiped out half a dozen Tributes at once in huge battles. My alliance didn't seem ready for any of that.

* * *

Silver Flower

It was good to see Alinta was so cheery. I was more scared than I wanted anyone to know, but I tried to push past it and keep going.

I already knew I wasn't going to win. It wasn't because I was a noble angel ready to lay down her life. It was just that there were seventy-four of us, and only one lived. My odds would have been minimal even if I had been a Career. I was a statistic waiting to happen. I wasn't ready to die because I was so brave. I just knew it was inevitable.

And if I was going to die, I could make it as worthwhile as possible. At the very least, all but one of my alliance would die. I wondered which one of us would win, if any. All of them deserved it. I didn't want to play favorites, but in my heart I hoped it was Alinta. She was so positive and brave. I never wanted her to get snuffed out again.

* * *

Tawny Stallyon

Most people were impossible to understand. I got Cornflower, though. She didn't look me in the eye, either. We didn't say much to each other, but it was okay to sit in the same room together. I got that vibe from her I always got when I was around someone else like me- "my people", I called them.

Mouse wasn't one of us, but he was careful. He obviously knew something was up, probably since he'd been mentored by Cornflower before. He stood tilted a little away from me when he started talking, so I didn't have to look at him.

"Some of us are getting up an alliance. Since you're from Ten too I thought I'd ask," he said. "You don't have to be with us all the time, though."

I couldn't win the Games all by myself, especially with so many people. If I had to ally with someone, it would be nice if it was someone I knew.

"Okay," I said, and I walked away. After a minute, I was worried I did it wrong. People like it when you broke off a conversation slowly. But Mouse didn't care, so I was okay.

* * *

Incense Balboa

 _Five bundles of grass. Make sure they all line up and they lay exactly on the side of the table but_ not over it! _Five more bundles of grass._

I was trying to make a thatch roof for a shelter. It was hard when the thoughts kept coming back. I was going to die in the Bloodbath if I didn't smooth out my pants five times just right. If I left crumbs on my plate I'd fall off the platform and blow up.

 _You killed someone last time. How could you have forgotten? You killed someone. You're a murderer. You're going to Hell. You're a horrible person._

I couldn't bear to watch the tapes and see if the thoughts were right. When Silver asked me to join her alliance, I thought she'd gotten the wrong person. When she asked again, I said yes before she could change her mind. I kept looking around at all my allies to make sure they were still there. I made five thatch roofs. That way they wouldn't die.

* * *

Mouse Parentii

I had become a man. How did I know? Because Alice was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. She didn't have cooties after all. Whatever she had, I wanted it. She was kind enough to grant my request to take her to get ice cream, and it was the best date I ever had.

"Thanks for coming with me. It was fun," I said as we ate crazy rainbow creations covered in sprinkles and candy. We sat on the tall spinny chairs because those were the best.

"I had fun too. Let's do it again tomorrow," she said. I put my hand in my pocket and fiddled with something.

"I know it's really early, but we don't have much time. I was wondering if you'd be my girlfriend," I said. Alice blushed.

"I've never had a boyfriend before," she said.

" _I've_ never had a _girlfriend_ before," I said. Alice spun back and forth on her chair.

"Okay," she said.

"Great! I got this from Fluvius," I said. I pulled a plastic butterfly ring from my pocket. When I put it on Alice's finger I stole a kiss on her cheek. That's how I became a man.

* * *

Anise Haeffele

I couldn't do it again. I kept thinking of what happened last time. The fangs that stuck into me. The venom that turned my insides into mush. The horrible dark nest and the sticky cocoon around me. Nothing could be worse than that, but surely there _was_ something worse and the Gamemakers had already prepared it.

I didn't know how Silver did it. She rallied the children like everything would be okay as long as we were brave. It wasn't going to be like that at all. I couldn't even look at her when she found me by myself.

"I'm scared too," she said.

"What?" I said.

"You don't have to feel bad. I'm scared too. I only keep going because I have to. There's a lot to be scared of. What really matters is what a person does anyway, even though they're scared," she said.

She sounded so much older than she really was. I was still scared, but I wanted to look at it like she did. I had reason to be scared, but I could keep going. No matter how scary it was, I could pushing one more time. They couldn't bring me back three times. That was it. That was the thing that was worse than the spider.

* * *

Ree Morning

Silver's alliance looked really nice. I was excited when they asked me to join, but I had to do something first. I found Junie at the first aid station.

"Hey, it's good to see you again. I hope things go better this time," I said.

"Yeah, me too," she said. "It was fun while it lasted, though."

There was silence for a minute. I knew what Junie was thinking and I didn't want to rush her. Her voice was usually cheerful, but it was hollow when she next spoke.

"We could ally again if you want," she said. That was what I came here to hear.

"This time I think you should go without me. I have to walk my own path," I said. She tried to hide it, but I could tell she was relieved.

"Oh, okay. Good luck," she said.

"You too," I said, and I went back to my new alliance. Junie and I were friends in our first Games, but things had changed. She was in it to win this time, and I was still a terribly long shot. I would have slowed her down. She was on her way up. Me, I was happy to play with my allies.

* * *

Peach Unk

Silver had her head screwed on the wrong way. Her alliance was a bunch of kiddies. I was big mean nasty Peach, the rebel from Twelve. I don't know what possessed me to say yes.

After that, I felt much less rebellious than before. I'd never heard of a rebel babysitter. I ventured forth into the Games building to rebuild some street cred.

Of _course_ there was a tattoo parlor in the Games building. It was time to get that back-alley ink after all. Except the Capitol wasn't a back alley.

I don't know what I expected, but it hurt like a witch. I must have called the artist every name I knew. He took it like a champ. After he was finally done, I had a wicked-looking pickaxe sunk into a pile of ore on my arm. The tiniest bit of a diamond peeked out.

Like most tattoos, it had a story. I was the pickaxe, sharp and hard and off-putting. The ore was the Games. The little bit of diamond that the axe was chipping out, that was victory. It was rare and hard to get to, but I was going to tear it out one piece at a time.

* * *

Chase Enders

Anything could happen in a Resurrection Games. I could even win. I had so many great allies. We'd take care of each other. Mutts wouldn't want to attack us because there were so many of us.

I stayed at the fire-making station. Fire meant light, just like a lighthouse. I'd already seen one, so I'd lived the dream, but I still like light. And there was so much more I could do with fire. I could heat up the alliance and make water safe or cook food. Fires would keep mutts away, and our numbers would keep the mean Tributes away.

I also practiced with the swords. I wanted to make sure I could keep my allies safe. The big heavy swords made me feel like a knight. I wouldn't have to actually kill anyone. They wouldn't want to mess with me and my alliance. We were going to do so great.


	17. The Odd Foursome

Vextrix Webb

Everything was different. First, Hoban wasn't here. We'd always been together. I didn't even feel like me without him. It was the best thing for him- he wouldn't have wanted to fight again and this way they can't hurt him. But I still missed him. I was selfish, just like when I left him.

My mentor was different too. Pepper and Orchard were so overwhelmed they could harly help me. It was hard, but I found the courage to ask one of the Careers lurking in the training room. Estrella jumped at the chance. She said Peridot was "hogging" Pandora. I knew my best chance of winning was to train with the best, but it was still different.

Finally, my alliance was different. I went straight to Kerry, since I trusted him and he was a chance to have _something_ stay the same. But we needed more, and it was up to us to find out who of the strange, unfamiliar Tributes we wanted to throw in our lives with.

I had a few ideas. The first boy intrigued me because I'd never seen someone else who seemed so much like me. The second was out of selfishness, something I seemed very good at. I wanted him because he was cute.

* * *

Castiel Wickham

Obviously God forgave me for killing myself. Otherwise he wouldn't have let them bring me back. And my memories of death were almost nonexistent, but I didn't remember any fire or brimstone. When Jonah visited Hell, he remembered it.

There were a few Tributes I remembered from last time. I saw Jay getting a few boys together, but he didn't ask me. I didn't mind, since they were a lot more boisterous than I was. I hoped he did well. I'd be praying for him. It seemed weird to pray for my opponent to win and to pray that other boys died so he lived, but it wasn't exactly like that. Prayer wasn't a magic spell that granted wishes. It was more complicated than that.

I recognized Vextrix when she came to talk to me. All through training, I'd noticed she was never scared or angry. She seemed flat like me. I'd been hoping she'd be interested in an alliance. I'd always felt like I was a failure for not loving people like I should. She wouldn't judge me if she couldn't do it either. And if she felt the same way I did, I could tell her it wasn't her fault. I believed it wasn't _her_ fault. I just couldn't seem to give myself the same mercy.

* * *

Zetan Thompson

This was a Resurrection Games, but I didn't remember dying. I didn't remember fighting or ever getting Reaped. I felt out of place, like an impostor. Sometimes faint images flashed in my head and the Games building seemed familiar, but it was hard to pin down. It was scary enough being here. It was worse to think I'd done it before and failed.

Something seemed familiar about two of the other Tributes. I knew from the lists that they'd been in my Games. Neither of them spoke to me, though. One of the boys joined a different alliance. The other boy stayed by himself and always looked angry. He made me nervous, and I wondered why I'd ever been close to him.

I joined right away when Vextrix told me about her alliance. I felt adrift and lost without even my memories of last time. I wanted to be with someone in case I lost more. I noticed she was nervous and shaky when she asked. I didn't remember last time, but apparently this time around, chicks dug me.

* * *

Kerry Samosa

I didn't know why Vextrix asked me to ally with her again. Last time it was Hoban's idea. Vextrix tolerated me, but she never really liked me. I said yes, though. She was strong and capable, and after last time, I had to admit I could use the help.

But then, I had high hopes for this time. There were no Careers to trap me. If no one was hunting me, I had a much better chance. I hoped the Arena was something hilly again, but I knew there wasn't much chance. I'd blown my shot at being in my element. I'd have to adapt. But still, there might be _something_ high in there.

Dying gave me a good idea. I was already good at climbing. What I was bad at was _falling._ That didn't seem like much of a skill, but it was actually was possible to learn. If I'd landed right, I might not have broken myself all to pieces. Back in shows forever ago, and maybe still in the Capitol, people used to dive into pools from way up high. If they knew how to do it, they could fall from stories and stories up and be fine. I felt like a clown as I practiced, but better a live clown than a dead lion.


	18. Oh Heck No and The Lion and the Lamb

Beth O'Darielle

I already knew all I needed to know. I sat in the training room and played with my list.

 **People to Kill**

 **Everyone!**

 **Order in which to kill them:**

 **1\. Silver. Oh my word she's such a goody two-shoes! All her little allies will be running around crying.**

 **2\. Haber. She never shuts up.**

 **3\. Vera. Because she might actually win.**

 **4\. Jay. He's ugly.**

 **5\. Austin. Also ugly.**

6\. Desiree. She's really tall and I want to see how long her intestines are.

 _No, wait._ I scribbled out the name and added Des one rank lower.

 **6\. Pandora. Ha ha she's blind. I can take as long as I want.**

 **8\. Gabriel. That's a stupid name.**

 **9\. Inky. I'll do her a favor and stab her five times.**

I went on adding to and adjusting the list as I cackled. It couldn't start soon enough.

* * *

Torchy Conden

 _That girl ain't right._ I was ready to kill all those losers, but she didn't have to be so gleeful about it. It didn't take a genius to see she'd stab me as soon as anyone else. I was lucky I was bigger than she was.

I'd do what it took to survive, but it was going to be a pain to kill all those Tributes. First, there were just so _many_ of them. If we divided them equally, we'd each have about twenty-five Tributes to kill. Of course some would die of other causes, but we wouldn't be getting much help from any of the others except Vera.

Second, I was never a killer by habit. Sure, I was in the Voting Games, but that was because I was a thief. It was easier to kill kids who all had a reason for being there. I wasn't about to get all soft, but this was just a chore for me. I wished Beth wasn't being so gross about it. It made me feel obligated to kill even more Tributes so she couldn't get her hands on them. That's me: Torchy Conden, always merciful.

* * *

Merle Loveridge

That one alliance seemed so lonely. Only the girl ever smiled. The one boy only ever scoped out the competition. The other boy just sat and did nothing. They needed some cheering up.

"Hey you guys! Are you an alliance?" I asked. Only the scope boy responded.

"I don't think we're what you're looking for," he said.

"Why not?" I asked. He looked at me askance.

"Look, Pollyanna, we're kind of the bad kids, okay? Wouldn't you be better off with them?" he asked, pointing at Silver and her brood. They were all very nice, but I felt more needed here.

"Don't be so down on yourself. Whatever you did, it was just to survive," I said. The boy looked at his girl ally, who was scribbling on a piece of paper. He smiled crookedly.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "Just scram before we think better of it."

I could understand how he felt. After what happened in my past, I was used to feeling unforgivable. If they only knew I'd caused more death than any of them...

"Torchy, why so rude?" the girl said as she got up. "She's only trying to be friendly."

"Come on, leave her alone," Torchy said. Beth gave me a hug. See, I _knew_ they weren't all bad.

"Of _course_ you can ally with us. Right, Jack?" Beth said. The quiet boy looked over and went back to sitting. Torchy didn't seem very happy about it, but I'd change his mind.

* * *

Jack Void

The new girl was one of the nice ones. They were always the hardest to kill. The ones who hung around with me would be much easier. There were so many this time. It would take a long time to kill them all.

I wanted to go home. I missed my mother. We were always together. We needed each other. She was so worried when I left the first time. She was always protective of me. If she'd been there, she never would have let me fall into the water. She knew how dangerous it was. The world was a very dangerous place. She knew all about it, and I worried about her without me there to be with her. I wanted to get home to her. That was why I had to kill all of the others.

* * *

Zinnia Fraser

I felt bad about what happened last time. Most of the people I ignored and didn't talk to deserved it, but Cornflower never wanted any of this. She probably thought I hated her. I made up my mind to ask her about her Games.

"How did you stay hidden when the Careers were looking for everyone?" I asked her. We sat in the lounge outside her room. She didn't like to go outside very much.

"Nobody was looking for me," she said.

"Everyone just forgot about you?" I asked.

"I wasn't strong. They all thought I'd freeze," she said.

"Everyone else did, but you didn't," I said. I always thought she got lucky, but there must have been _something_ there.

"I thought they'd find me eventually and didn't like being cold, so I stayed hidden and folded up while I waited. I only came out at the end," she said.

"After everyone was dead?" I asked.

"No, one girl was left," she said.

"Then why did you go out?" I asked.

"I wanted it to be done. I thought she'd kill me. But she was too frozen. Most of her clothes were off. I tried to warm her up, but she died," she said. She said it so simply, like it wasn't a big deal she watched a girl die as she tried desperately to save her. After my first Games, I cared about other people more. I didn't think Cornflower even noticed anyone else, but I guess she cared after all.

* * *

Rory Harris

Zinnia seemed so much older. She was quieter and less hotheaded. Last time she acted like a girl, but she was a young woman now. It hardly felt like I had to protect her.

I didn't think I had the courage to talk to my family, but I wanted to see them. Fluvius helped hook me up with a 3-D holograph of them. I was scared to look at first. They looked mostly the same. Gwen was a little taller. She was smiling.

I didn't know how to feel about that. I was afraid she'd look sad. First I was glad she was over my death. Then I thought, _she's over me._ She'd moved on. She wasn't crushed and broken and never able to be happy again. She went on. I should have been happy, and I was, but I still felt forgotten and worthless. By now she knew I was in the Games again. Was she happy I might come home or sad she might lose me again? Or, worst of all, was she just indifferent?

Last time, I thought Zinnia and Inky were more important than whatever happened to me. I wanted to be a good person and be someone Gwen could look up to. I didn't think I could do it again this time. I didn't want to die again. I wanted to get home not so Gwen wouldn't get sad, but because I wanted to know I mattered to her. I wanted to be important to her. I never wanted her to be devastated over my loss, because I wanted to come home, but I wanted to know she _would_ be devastated if I _did_ die. It was the most selfish thing I could imagine. The only way to make it right was to get home.

* * *

 **Zinnia's form said she would try to talk to Cornflower. Her opinions may or may not reflect how virtuous Cornflower actually is, unfortunately.**

 **My notes say Mindi was in a 34th SYOT but I can't find it. If I can't find her I can either: A. Drop her because goodness knows we have enough or B. Make up a basic personality for her if it would be better for her allies to have her for numbers.**


	19. The Aliens and some Extras

Lisbeth Miller

There were way too many people for me to get through this on my own. I needed an ally. It didn't matter who it was. I'd only be with him or her until the Bloodbath. Then I'd tie up loose ends and move on.

Burgundy was more reluctant than I expected. I put on all my charm and friendliness, but he acted like I'd already betrayed him. He only agreed after I said it would be a temporary alliance. A _very_ temporary alliance, but I didn't tell him that part.

I needed to think about the logistics of all of this. With seventy-four of us in one Arena, the Gamemakers would have to make it larger just so it could hold all of us. A lot of us would die in the Bloodbath, but they couldn't be sure of that, so there was probably going to be a lot of room for the survivors. That meant it would be easier to hide, in which case I should spend more time learning to survive. There would be at least fifty of us left. It would take a lot of food to sustain that many people. Wild plants just didn't grow that thick naturally. That's why people developed gardening. Things would be tight. I'd only be worrying about one person, but that one person was very important.

* * *

Burgundy Lumineer

It wasn't fair to blame Lisbeth for what happened. She had nothing to do with it. I couldn't assume she was like anyone else, even if she was a girl. That's why I finally agreed to the alliance. It was only for a little while, and I could use someone to watch my back.

A lot of the Tributes were upset or confused about being resurrected. For me, it was a chance to start again. I had a completely different body now. Whatever happened last time around was to a different person. I didn't have to let it hold me back.

It was creepily metaphysical. None of the atoms inside me were part of the old me. If you replace every part of something, is it really the same thing? I had the same memories, but a computer had memories too. Computers weren't alive and they weren't individual.

It hurt my head to think of all the ramifications. I decided to focus on the positive. I was reborn. I could be any kind of person I wanted. The possibilities were endless.

* * *

Sevarian Vask

Logan and DeMarcus were like me, but I didn't want to join their alliance. I didn't join a gang for friendship. I would have made trouble with or without a gang.

It seemed I hadn't rung the bell after all. I guess that was good for the people back home, but I didn't really care. As long as I was alive, it didn't matter how it happened. It was obvious that most of my competition was peaceful. Unless some of us picked up the slack, the Games would go on forever. If they needed someone to do their dirty work, I could do that. I just hoped they kept me supplied.

I constantly kept my eye out for an opening. With three times as many Tributes to watch, it might be possible for me to slip away. There were a lot of places to hide in the Capitol. And things probably weren't as perfect as they liked to think. I was sure I could find the same street rats here as I could back home. But they wouldn't be used to the kind of carnage I dealt with on a daily basis in my gang days. I could be on the top in no time. I didn't need to win the Games. I'd be happy as a humble guttersnipe in a city as rich as the Capitol.

* * *

Mindi Hostler

Naturally they picked me again. They wanted to make up for what happened last time.

Surely the Arena would be nicer this time as well. Maybe a lovely mansion, or even the president's house. And of course I'd last longer. What happened last time was an embarrassing mix-up. Not for me- for the Gamemakers. Someone definitely go fired. Probably executed.

I was still trying to decide which alliance would get to have me. I liked the one of all girls. We could talk about girl stuff. The girl with all the little kids probably wouldn't last past the first day. But then, maybe I should join one of the boy alliances. Boys were handsome, and they'd like to have a lovely lady to admire.

It was going to be wonderful to be a Victor. No more smelly Twelve with its nasty clouds of smoke. Even the Victor's Village was dull and dirty. I'd live in the Capitol instead. That was were I belonged. My talent would be modeling, of course, and everyone would love me. Life was finally about to make things right.

* * *

Wyatt Sparks

 _Best idea ever._ I tried not to laugh as I made my move.

"Hey, you have an alliance, right?" I said to Haber. She scowled at me.

"It's girls only," she said.

"Pleeeeeease? I'll wear makeup and talk about boys and hate men," I said.

"No," she said.

"Even if I wear a dress for my interview and open doors for you and bring you all flowers?" I asked.

"No," she said.

"What if I'm a girl on the _inside?_ You don't know what I look like without clothes on anyway," I said. She tried to leave and I followed after her.

"You're just _rude!_ Just because I don't have boobs you think I'm not a girl! I thought we were equals now!" I complained about the injustice of it all. Haber was unmoved. No 6:1 ratio for me. Oh well, it was worth a try.

* * *

 **There were only two actual allies here so I added more to make the chapter longer. Wyatt is still with Dominique, but he is sadly not allowed into the She-Woman Man Haters. He is also _not_ transgender and is just being a goon.**


	20. One More Time

Frankie Wilson

I was going to have to be the bad guy. There were so many Tributes and only a handful of us were killers. They weren't going to be able to do enough damage to satisfy the Gamemakers. If the Gamemakers didn't get enough blood, they'd shed it themselves. Last time that meant two unstoppable mutts that struck every night if we didn't kill someone. That was how I ended up dying: in a slaughter that decimated the entire alliance.

Vera was willing to kill, but she was more a defender than an attacker. She didn't go out of her way to hunt. She just knew what it took to get through the Games, and she had the training to do it. Reiner had Peacekeeper ties. I could count on him to pull his weight. Felix did what he had to. He wasn't as strong as Tillo- that was why she won- but he had a reason to get home. Then there was Lyte, who was actively working exactly in the opposite way the Gamemakers intended. It was my job to kill people faster than he could heal them. He must hate me already.

It was hard to even know what I wanted. Even though I didn't feel anything, I'd long decided that I loved Vera. That meant she was the most important thing for me. I wanted her to stay alive. But I also wanted to win, because that was my only chance at ever being normal. If the Capitol could bring me back to life, they could fix whatever was wrong with my brain. But the only way I could know I loved Vera was to put her first. It didn't seem like a happy ending was possible for me.

* * *

Felix Veux

Everyone else had a reason to be here. Frankie and Vera were in love, no matter how weird that seemed coming from Frankie. Reiner and Lyte were best buds forever. They hardly minded dying over and over if they could play in between. I was the odd man out. I'd allied with them before, but I was always closest to Tillo. She wasn't stuck cycling like us. She won.

I would probably never get back to her. I had a third of the chance I normally had, and I'd already failed back when I had the greater chance. It was hard to want to be a father anymore. I was so removed from Felix Jr. it barely mattered. It was too late to help him grow up. He'd lived this long without me. He could go on. I wanted to see Tillo again, but if I didn't, it was enough to know she was alive.

The world kept spinning, and I stayed the same. It was passing me by, and I wasn't sure there was still time to catch up. Maybe I should fade into the past and stop giving my love and my son false hope. Every time I came back it must be dimmer for them. They knew I kept dying. It was harder to believe I'd ever live.

* * *

Vera Busattil

Beth and her friends were monsters. I looked at her alliance and I saw something I used to be a part of. Training was part of life for me. It meant you were the best, and it was the only way to keep my restless mind occupied. Now that I was on the outside, I could see what we really were.

I wanted to go back in time and shake some sense into myself. I had it good back in Four. Whyte and I never should have volunteered. We could have had a good life. Maybe we would have fallen in love. Maybe we would have stayed friends. Either way, we'd still be alive. We wouldn't be in limbo like this.

But if I hadn't volunteered, I wouldn't have met Frankie. He thought he was so broken, but all I saw was what he did, not what he felt. He was noble and courageous. He was a great man. It wasn't betraying Whyte to like him. Whyte had his own relationships. It was okay to move on.

But back to Beth. I saw her and her allies waiting for the Games to start so they could start killing. If I'd really been brave, they'd have been my first targets. I was trained. I could stop them before they killed innocent kids. But I wasn't going to. If they didn't kill the others, someone else had to. And it didn't make me innocent if they did the killing. I was letting them go exactly _so_ they could kill the others. That way I could live. And I might start killing too in the end. My life depended on the Capitol liking me enough to bring me back if I lost. They didn't like peaceful Tributes. Just thinking things like that showed what kind of person I was. Maybe I was still a monster after all.

* * *

Reiner Ludwig

Life is cheap. I learned that after I lost mine twice.

Sometimes life is short. Some people die when they're still babies. Others get sick as kids or maybe a tree falls on them when they're barely twenty. Yet their lives, even though they were short, were complete for them. Someone who dies young doesn't know about growing older and all the stuff they missed. Maybe you can live a full life in just a few years.

I'd certainly done a lot. I'd seen more of Panem than almost anyone in the Districts. I'd seen rainforests and humongous shopping malls like nothing we had back in Seven. I'd made friends and lost them. I only lived a few weeks at a time, but I lived more than a lot of people.

It didn't matter as much who lived and who died. If someone had something to get home to, like Frankie, that was one thing. But I'd "lived" in the Capitol as long as I'd lived at home. If my destiny was to forever live a few days here and then fade again, I could accept that. I didn't know how long it would last, but nobody knew when they were going to die. It was no different for me, even if I lived in cycles.

* * *

Lyte Anderson

"You put the balls in so the crust doesn't rise in the oven," Reiner said as we prepared our pie. He might have been tough as nails, but he wasn't always fighting. He also liked baking cute little tarts and fancily frosted cakes. And I liked to _eat_ cute little tarts and fancily frosted cakes. We put the crust in the oven and made the other stuff while we waited.

The chocolate filling was already in the fridge, so only the topping was left. Reiner poured some cream in two bowls and handed me a whisk.

"Bet I can get mine whipped faster," he said.

"You're on!" I said. He may have been a better cook, but I was more determined. The kitchen echoed with clicks and scrapes as we frantically whipped our cream.

By the time the pie was done, the cream was sweetened and ready to go. We plopped it on until it was about to tip over the edges. Reiner artfully sprinkled chocolate powder on top and arranged chocolate curls in a circle. We put the finished pie in the fridge to cool.

It took forever, but finally it was cool. Reiner took the tin out carefully and examined it at all angles.

"It's ready. All that's left is the most important step," he said.

"What's that?" I said. He smashed it in my face. He may have been laughing, but the real joke was on him. _I_ got all the whipped cream.

* * *

 **The loners are going to take more than one chapter this time.**


	21. Paired Tributes

Velvet Tek

I was hoping I'd see Yasmine again this year, but when I saw she didn't get picked, I was happy for her. She wasn't ever going to win. She was just too young. I was sad I missed my only chance to see her again, but it was for the best. I hoped she was somewhere nice.

Bambi wanted to mentor me, but he was Ten's only male Victor. He had three boys he had to take care of. He kept saying he was sorry, and he sent me flowers every day. I wasn't sure why he felt so guilty. It probably had something to do with what happened on the tape I wasn't supposed to watch. Whatever it was, I didn't care. The Games did things to the best people. He was sorry about it and it obviously tore him apart. It didn't reflect who he really was and it wasn't important.

Without the Games, none of us would ever get to see the Capitol. We also wouldn't have any chance at the life the Victors had. It was awful what they did to us, but I always saw the Games as a sort of lottery. If life got too hard, you could put it all on the line for a shot at everything. I understood why people volunteered. I'd flirted with the idea a few times, even if I never intended to go through with it. I thought that if I died, at least it would be national news. I wouldn't just fall under a train or get tuberculosis and fade away. I ended up dying of smoke inhalation, but the fire was pretty dramatic. Maybe this time I'd get what I expected. I didn't care about drama anymore. I just wanted to stay alive.

* * *

Gabriel Farad

I had a lot to think about as I prayed. I was supposed to be thinking about holy things, but Allah knew I rarely kept my mind completely focused. And I _was_ thinking about stuff related to him.

There was nothing about reincarnation in the book. We were supposed to wait in the grave until judgment. Some of us thought differently, though. The Sufi thought we could be reborn based on our acts, either as humans or something else. They also thought it was possible to break out of the grave as a ghost. They called such things "i'friti". They were very evil. I didn't _feel_ evil, and surely evil things didn't pray. Dad said those were old superstitions. But maybe I was reincarnated. It seemed silly to reincarnate me exactly the same. And if I was still stuck in the Hunger Games, I must have done something really bad. I didn't do anything bad last time. I didn't kill anyone. I barely stayed alive long enough to do anything.

Maybe I was never really counted as "dead". Of course Allah would know this was coming, so maybe he let my soul just kind of hang there, since I was going to need it again. Essentially it was just a pause in my spiritual journey, since I was the same person. As long as I could keep praying it meant I wasn't totally lost. The rest would come when it came.

* * *

Dominique Rindelle

I was already good at running. Getting cloned didn't change that. I didn't need to practice on the track, but I kept going anyway. I wanted to run and run and never stop, not in a million years. The Games couldn't start if I never stopped running. I could solve all my problems by just outrunning them.

That wasn't true, of course, but this time, being fast might be all I needed. Something was going to have to kill a lot of Tributes. I didn't think we'd be fast enough for them. They probably had mutts lined up and ready to go. If I could outrun them, I might be able to keep running all the way to Victory.

It was good to have Wyatt still. He told me how he tried to get into Haber's alliance. It was no surprise Things were rarely serious to Wyatt. When he stopped laughing in the Arena, I knew our time was up. But we got a lot done, and we had another chance to do more. We'd make the most of every second we had. If I had to live an entire life in two weeks, I could do it. I was nothing if not fast.

* * *

Delilah Clementine

It was odd that a singer ended up with a deaf boy. But Gabriel could still appreciate music. He could feel it and move along with it. He liked to dance. He even taught me.

I made it a long way last time. If it hadn't been so cold, I might possibly have won. Some people might have felt cheated coming in fourth. Others might have bragged. I wished I'd done worse. I got to the end because of a lot of things, but I knew luck was among them. The others might think I was a bigger threat than I was. If people were actively hunting me, I wouldn't last nearly as long this time. And I felt so much pressure to improve. It was silly and it didn't matter, but I didn't want to do worse this time. And if I did do worse, they might not want me back.

It was hard to stay optimistic in the face of such terrible odds. It was like we were about to go to a second Reaping, but it was the opposite this time. We'd all gather around as someone picked a single name. Whoever was on that slip would live, and the rest of us would die again. The odds were so low to get Reaped. This time they were even lower that we'd live.

It was hard to be Gabriel's ally. Not because he was a burden, but because I knew I'd almost certainly lose him again. He wasn't a burden, but his chances were even lower than mine. It wasn't fair to make him compete with the others. He was more than my ally. I knew how I felt about him. I didn't want to get closer. I knew it would only hurt me. But he was worth it, and he deserved it. He brought so much good to the world. It wasn't fair he had to die again.

* * *

 **I'friti are actually a type of Djinn, but Gabriel isn't a Sufi Muslim so he isn't familiar with their legends.**

 **Wow I went over my list and I only have fifteen Tributes left to write. I must have miscounted since no way did I write over 50 POVs since the Reapings.**


	22. Damaged

Arter Wire

I used to be afraid of death. Now I wanted to know more about it. There were so many things I didn't understand. There were metaphysical things I never even considered. They kept popping up wherever I went.

After the parade, I knew it was my destiny. I was the only one dressed in a long black cloak, like the stylist knew what I was going to become. I hadn't heard stories like that in ages, not since I was young enough to be afraid to look under my bed. Stories about a skeletal being hidden under a cloak, a being that came for you when it was time to die. I'd met him before once. I hadn't seen him again since.

The best way to learn more about death was to get close to it. When the Games came, I'd have my chance. Whatever I did, there would be death. If I took part in it, I could learn even more. It was the ultimate mystery.

I didn't remember much about being dead. But as I thought, one thing came back to me. I remembered what the Reaper looked like. He looked like me.

* * *

Olivier Fowler

I didn't know what to believe anymore. I used to think life was worth living and there were happy things to look forward to, even if there were also a lot of hardships. The Games were just a remote part of life, like the knowledge that some horrible illness could take you away. It never had, and neither had the Games until I died. It wasn't like my shows, when magic happened and things reappeared after they vanished. Once we died, we were dead forever, unless something like this happened. But I wasn't sure I'd really reappeared. I didn't feel alive like I did before. I just wasn't dead.

As soon as I saw Tariq I wanted to run to him. If I had even one friend, maybe there was something worth holding on for. But I remembered what happened last time, and it sickened me. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was more messed up than I was, and I didn't want to be a reminder. But I was cared about myself more than him, because I went up to him after all.

"Ready to pick up where we left off?" I asked with a fake smile. I wanted him to think I was the same jolly Olivier as ever. He was always so tense. I didn't want to upset him. I couldn't tell if he was angry, sad, or just scared after I said it. After a minute he walked away without saying anything.

It was the first time I really lost him, since I died first last time. Now I knew how much it hurt. I'd hoped he would somehow magically heal from the trauma and we could be like we were. Some things don't reappear.

* * *

Tariq Bluegrass

I wanted to be with Olivier more than anything, but I couldn't bear it. I was furious with him for dying. I was horrified over what I'd become and I knew he'd seen it on the tapes. Once he'd thought about it, he wouldn't want to be with me. I was contaminated. He'd abandon me, and I wanted to abandon him first so that couldn't happen.

I didn't want to be alone again. I remembered what it was like to spend those days in the dark pit. I had company there, but I was still alone. The first thing I did when I got up was call my family. They barely remembered me. I never wanted to stop talking and they brushed me aside. They knew I'd die again and they'd already given up on me.

The day after Olivier asked me to ally with him, I went back to him.

"Do you still want me for an ally?" I asked. _Don't say no. Don't leave me._ I'd hate him if he did.

"Of course I still want you!" Olivier said. He was so enthusiastic I didn't trust him. He wanted to be my ally so he could betray me. He couldn't leave me. I'd kill us both if he tried.

Now I had an ally, but I couldn't trust him. I wasn't alone, but I had to watch for myself at every turn. There was no way he could really want to be my friend. How could he? I was the coward who got eaten by spiders. He had some other plan. I'd find out what it was.


	23. Short Piddly Chapter

**Does anyone know why reviews wouldn't show up? I don't want to hold new chapters hostage, especially when it's not your fault they're not showing up, but for this particular story, it's important I can see reviews. There's so many characters and elements to remember that I will definitely forget something if I don't have readers to remind me, and it would be awful if I went all the way to the Bloodbath without writing about a character or missing important development. I'm not sure I should get to the Bloodbath until this is fixed, unless you all have further ideas. I think I should still be able to finish the first round of POVs, since I listed all my Tributes and I've been coloring them red when I write them, and then I can do the interviews. Hopefully it'll be fixed by then, and if not I guess I can go to the point of the Bloodbath. Then I'll really need to be able to see feedback because that determines a lot of how the Bloodbath goes. I'd hate to not be able to see everyone loves a Tribute and kill him because I can't see he's popular.**

 **Also from the 11th-21st of October I shall be in Sierra Leone on a mission trip and I don't think I'll be able to write because I don't even know if the orphanage has a computer.**


	24. Leftover Girls

**I can still do the last few Tributes without feedback. I think it will be fixed by Bloodbath time.**

* * *

Azalea Meadows

There were a lot of alliances this year. That wasn't really my scene. An alliance was only as good as its weakest member. I was better off with nobody to support but myself.

I was glad none of them had asked me. Silver's alliance was a bunch of babies that would drag me down. Jay and his buddies were a sausage fest. The only ones I'd look twice at were Beth's group, since I remembered her from my Games. But then, I wouldn't want to be in her group. I remembered her from my Games.

It was obvious there were a lot of Tributes who weren't going to be killing anyone. We were lucky we had Beth's gang to at least get _something_ done. Last time I died because I was eager to get the killing started. I didn't have to worry about that happening twice. There were a lot of easy pickings, and the other killers wouldn't want to eliminate one of their small number.

I got a wicked smile as I made my plan. I didn't want to mess with Lyte, since he was always hanging around with that big guy. Silver, though, wasn't a threat. And wouldn't she look so heartbroken if one of her little angels died? She couldn't be popular with the Gamemakers, either. I'd get their approval _and_ kill some of the weaklings. It would be two birds with one stone.

* * *

Celestial Yeager

Even if we never intersected much, Dane and I had been through two Hunger Games together. It was weird not seeing him this time. It was also weird seeing so many people I remembered from last time. We just kept circling around, like phantoms from the past that never quite made it to the other side.

Every time I came back, I felt less connected to the world. All my pets would be dead by now. My father had recovered from my death as much as he ever would. It was more a disturbance than a resurrection of hope for him each time I came back.

I didn't think it was worth it anymore. I'd been through two Hunger Games already. All the fear and pain and helplessness- it wasn't worth it for a shot at life. Someone like me wasn't going to win, especially this time with so many other people. The only thing that made it feel worthwhile was seeing Pepper. We were a team at the end. I helped her win, and she was still here.

I couldn't imagine the people would still be interested in me if I died again. It was okay with me if they moved on. I already had. I only hoped the third Arena was something beautiful.

* * *

Serena Hyland

I tried to keep to myself as I wandered through the Games building. It was hard enough going out there with all those people. I didn't want to attract attention. But of course, that was impossible.

"Hey! You're one of them Tributes, right?" a man said. He was covered in bronze powder and his suit was silver.

"Yeah," I said quietly. My voice was all squeaky. I kept my words short so I wouldn't stutter.

"I have a bet out on you," he said.

"Really?" I asked. I didn't think anyone thought I would win.

"I got a month's pay that you'll go in the Bloodbath," he said with a smirk. He didn't have to look so predatory about it.

"Oh," I said. I shouldn't have expected anything different. The man laughed.

"You didn't think I bet on you to _win?_ Nah, I put _that_ money on Des. She did so well last time," he said. I turned around and ran through the crowd before he could say anything more. He shouted after me angrily as I went, like that would get me to come back. I already knew I was dead. I didn't have to stick around to hear him say it.

* * *

Skyler Dacher

It didn't seem like it to most people, but there were lots of upsides to my situation. If I got chosen for the Resurrection Games, that meant I was popular. I wasn't a terribly nasty person, so they didn't bring me back just to laugh at me. That meant they brought me back because they liked me, which meant they would probably send me stuff. I made it a long way last time. Nothing was set in stone.

I was glad to see Hadley again, even if it didn't seem like we were allying this time. Maybe she'd win if I didn't. I'd be happy to hear that if I wouldn't be dead.

Soleil sent me a sword the first time because she thought it would scare people off. It didn't work for Careers, but there weren't any Careers this time. I practiced more so the Gamemakers might put a sword in the Arena or sponsors might send one. I wouldn't be able to actually kill a person, probably, but I didn't have to if they stayed away.

Last time my Arena was really nice. Maybe it would be like that again. It might be a mock-up of the Capitol, or maybe a giant chocolate factory. But with so many people, they'd probably want something that weeded us out more quickly. A desert seemed likely.

That seemed like a bad thing too, but there was something good in it. If I knew to expect a desert, I could learn more about finding water. I'd have an edge, and that might make me stand out in a crowd of seventy-four.


	25. Leftover Boys and Elara and Hadley

**I forgot Elara and Hadley! But now I should have all 73 first POVs done.**

* * *

Asper Fin

They still hadn't forgotten. I was the star of the same soap opera that happened last time. I couldn't leave the training room without people telling me how brave I was to switch with my brother. I couldn't even imagine what my brother looked like anymore. I gave my life for him, and he was living it. I was still stuck in neutral.

Jay and his friends seemed to have a good alliance going. I didn't want to assume anything, and I was also okay with being alone this time. Alliances hadn't worked out for me, and I'd been around people for a long time.

I'd been away from my family so long that the whole volunteering thing didn't seem like a big deal anymore. I wished people would stop fussing about it. Except sponsors, they could still fuzz. All I cared about was getting home this time.

It was obvious I needed a better strategy. It seemed equally obvious that I was being too hesitant. Victory doesn't fall into someone's lap. I had to go out there and grab it. That might mean killing people. I had to be okay with that too. On one hand, I'd saved someone's life, so it seemed like it just evened things out if I killed someone. But on the other hand, that would negate everything I worked for. The real question was where saving my own life fit into the equation.

* * *

Miller Thresher

This was always the best part of getting resurrected. I was famished after being dead so long. There wasn't enough time to make up for all the food I lost.

I thought of my glorious victory as I ate. The first thing to get through was the Bloodbath. I'd grab supplies and a cool weapon, like an axe. Even though I could kill anyone I wanted, I'd be noble about it. I'd leave the younger Tributes to the mean Tributes so everyone could see how merciful I was. Then they'd cheer when I killed the murderers. From there I'd go after the others as they started to waste away from hunger. Naturally they wouldn't be as good at finding food as I was. They'd be skinny and weak in no time.

It was going to be nice to be a Victor. The ladies would love me even more than they already did. I could throw wild parties and have the run of the Victors' Village. It was about time Nine got a Victor. I was the perfect first.

* * *

Arden Grake

I was underwhelmed with the Capitol's decision to pick me again. I thought they had better taste. Pardon the self-deprecation, but I got eaten by a plant-eating dinosaur. In fairness, being eaten by any dinosaur was an epic way to go, but I was not recorded in the annals of the Hunger Games as one of the more memorable Tributes.

Perhaps it would work to my advantage. Certainly the others wouldn't think I was a threat. Most of us weren't even looking to fight. It was going to be a long ordeal in the Arena. It was those kind of long lulls that got Gamemakers bored. When Gamemakers were bored, they found ways to whack unlucky Tributes. And a joke worth telling once was worth telling again. Wouldn't it just be so funny if the same thing happened to me twice? I'd have to keep my eye out for Gamemakers more than for other Tributes.

I certainly wasn't proving them wrong about how exciting a selection I was. If I won, I'd be the saddest sack Victor since Toby. Eleven already had Mars. Looking at him, you'd expect him to be a big dumb guy, but he was endlessly sensitive and remorseful. Pardon my ungratefulness, but I found it impossible to muster enthusiasm for a second trip to near certain death. Call me a villain if you must. I just can't help it.

* * *

Ryker Merlin

Running wasn't enough. Two failures proved that. I had to learn something else. I didn't want to use a weapon. I already had enough to apologize for. But even though it seemed selfish, winning would help me repay my District. They were sad enough that I died twice.

I found my compromise in a bolo. It wasn't an aggressive weapon. It wouldn't kill anyone if I didn't throw it at their neck, and probably not even then. I was going to aim it at the legs anyway. That would trip my opponent and stop him from using his weapon until I could get away.

I was glad I didn't see anyone else at the bolo station. It would be my worst nightmare if someone used one on me. I was a messenger back home forever ago. Running was my livelihood. Probably by now, they used robots. It was a good thing I wasn't going back to that job, one way or another.

I didn't end up with an alliance this time. I'd be faster on my own, but I'd also be less protected. I thought I could still depend on my old allies to not target me, but the Games do things to people. They sure did things to me.

* * *

Hadley Kinneth

Skyler wasn't here this time. I wondered if anyone ever got to her family. No one from my alliance won. Kazuo couldn't have known about our agreement. Most mentors would have taken care of it, but Lena hardly remembered her _own_ name. _I_ wouldn't have known her name if she hadn't been from Six.

It was really too late to talk to them now, and I didn't have any allies to pool my message with anyway. I felt bad about it, but it was nice not to have to worry about it. It was all about me now. Everything else was so far behind it hardly felt relevant.

Skyler was always the optimistic one. It was harder to keep my spirits high without her. Optimism hadn't saved her, and it hadn't saved me twice. Maybe it was time to try realism. I was most likely going to die. If I did everything right, I had a slightly better chance of not dying. If I did anything wrong, it would kill me. There wasn't room for Skyler's mercy and forgiveness. The Games didn't have mercy.

* * *

Elara Angelo

I had a feeling this Arena was going to be brutal. Last Resurrection Games it was full of food. This time there were more Tributes and fewer killers. It was going to have to be like the desert Arena or the frozen one. But that gave me an advantage.

I was used to finding my own food. In Twelve, it was the only way not to starve. I worked on those kinds of skills during training, just to brush up. That and running. I had another feeling there were going to be a lot of mutts.

Last Resurrection Games a Career won. That seemed like a cheat. Resurrection Games were to give everyone another chance. The Careers already had advantages. Leaving the Careers out this time was about the fairest thing the Gamemakers ever did. Maybe Snow was going to be a good president after all.

It was odd how much I missed Myrtle. She was whiny and helpless and spoiled- but I still wished she was here. She changed over the Games, and not for the worse like most people. They refined her like fire. She never would have won, and I should have been happy she didn't have to die again. I could go on without her, even if it wasn't ideal. I was used to taking care of myself.

* * *

 **I need YOU!**

 **The interviews are going to be really long if I do them normally. So instead I'll change them. Here's where you come in. If you were an audience member, what would you like to ask one of the Tributes? It can be any Tribute, and it can be serious or silly- anything from "what's your strategy" to "who's better, Godzilla or Gamera?" (p.s. it's Godzilla). If you want, send in a question for the interviews. It's probably a good idea to include a few to different Tributes so I can make sure there's no overlap. To get the full experience include a silly Capitol name for yourself, but I can make one if you can't. I still can't read reviews, so you can either PM them or hope the reviews work in time. I still have private sessions, so it should be a while, especially since those will probably take four chapters.**


	26. Private Session Report Part 1

**For the odds, I rounded to 75 Tributes to make things easier. 75:1 is average, 50:1 would be 16:1 normally.**

* * *

ATTN: HEAD GAMEMAKER TITIAN QIN

PRIVATE SESSION REPORTS

THEODORA HARP **AND HER ROOTIN TOOTIN PARTNER HARLEQUIN "HOLLERIN' HARLEY" MARCEAU**

"Harley, this is serious!" I crossed out her addendum. There was no way I could do my job properly with 73 Tributes. I remembered what happened _last_ Resurrection Games, and that was only 54. I was in trouble for weeks.

"Spoilsport," Harlequin said.

* * *

NAME: PANDORA SENT

DISTRICT ONE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: KNOWLEDGE OF PLANTS

SKILLS ASSESSED: Pandora possessed an intimate, intuitive knowledge of plants. She used all her senses to determine which were safe and which poisonous. Even when confronted with an entirely new plant, she did not err.

STRENGTHS: **I think we made this obvious, duh. It's plants. (H)**

WEAKNESSES: Pandora is legally blind and it very sensitive and tender.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: **She's blind.** That is _not_ a mental illness. Pandora's profile is normal.

ODDS: 150:1

NOTES: **What kind of name is that? Is your brother Tantalus?** This is almost as bad as that kid with no legs.

* * *

NAME: DeMARCUS KING

DISTRICT THREE MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: BRAWLING

SKILLS ASSESSED: DeMarcus elected not to use brass knuckles against the assistants because he didn't want to hurt them. It is easy to extrapolate from the damage he did anyway that he would be even more forceful with his weapon.

STRENGTHS: Strong alliance and bond with allies. History of fighting.

WEAKNESSES: Not likely to attract allies. **DeMarcus is a dumb name**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Predilection toward violence evidenced by gang history. Does not read at grade level.

ODDS: 50:1

NOTES: Last time you were a dark horse. Maybe again? **Pbbt.**

* * *

NAME: GIZMO TORRENS

DISTRICT THREE MALE  
SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: STRATEGY

SKILLS ASSESSED: Gizmo used a holographic chart to list several strategies from historic battles. It was very impressive. **All that stuff was over my head but it looked smart.**

STRENGTHS: Alliance, intelligence, craftiness

WEAKNESSES: He's not physically strong and is not the most promising of his alliance.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Healthy

ODDS: 60:1

NOTES: **Nerrrrrrrrd.** It'll be boring if you win.

* * *

NAME: WYATT SPARKS

DISTRICT THREE MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTATED: RUNNING, JOKES

SKILLS ASSESSED: It was difficult for Wyatt's talents to overlap since he was often too out of breath to tell jokes. But a valiant effort.

STRENGTHS: **Rapier wit.** Average running skills, popular ally, stronger body

WEAKNESSES: Average running skills. **No dirty jokes**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: One of the cleanest of the bunch

ODDS: 80:1 **69:1 heh heh**

NOTES: Maybe you'll come from behind? **I had a joke about an egg, but it's rotten**

* * *

NAME: ELECTRA MAGNETA

DISTRICT THREE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: ELECTRONICS

SKILLS ASSESSED: Electra was impeccably adept at electronics. In the right Arena she will be near unstoppable.

STRENGTHS: **Des!** Intelligence. She is used to little food.

WEAKNESSES: Off-balance from height change, small frame.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Depression and trauma from abuse.

ODDS: 120:1

NOTES: You can do it! **Yeah so can Lyte.**

* * *

NAME: EMMELINE BLYTHE

DISTRICT THREE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: ELECTRONICS

SKILLS ASSESSED: **Emmeline _made a computer! It was so cool_!** Emmeline's skills were highly impressive.

STRENGTHS: Intelligence, mechanical ability.

WEAKNESSES: Very weak allies.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Emmeline scored the highest of all the Tributes on the IQ test.

ODDS: 40:1

NOTES: **You brain way better than me**. I think we might have a winner.

* * *

NAME: VERA BUSATTIL

DISTRICT FOUR FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: WEAPONS **EVERYTHING**

SKILLS ASSESSED: Vera showed prowess in a wide variety of weapons.

STRENGTHS: Vera, as the only Career, has a sizable advantage. She also has one of the strongest allies possible in Frankie.

WEAKNESSES: **She bounced around a lot.**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Attention deficit disorder.

ODDS: 35:1

NOTES: Yeah, you're the only Career so... **Cheater cheater pumpkin eater.**

* * *

NAME: CELESTIAL YEAGER

DISTRICT FOUR FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL

SKILLS ASSESSED: Were it not for the presence of other Tributes, Celestial would be able to survive in the Arena. **Not this Arena...** Spoilers, Harley!

STRENGTHS: Popularity with sponsors, not a first target for killers.

WEAKNESSES: Inability to kill, gentleness

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 110:1

NOTES: Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. **I'll pet my cat in your honor**

* * *

NAME: GABRIEL FARAD

DISTRICT FIVE MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: STEALTH, HANDHELD PROJECTILES

SKILLS ASSESSED: **For a deaf guy, he was super quiet.** Gabriel's prowess with projectiles was unrefined but definite.

STRENGTHS: Popularity, popular ally, killer will be unpopular

WEAKNESSES: He's deaf. He's not a killer

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Clean.

ODDS: 140:1

NOTES: **I don't think so.** Yeah you're right.

* * *

NAME: KERRY SAMOSA

DISTRICT FIVE MALE

SKILLS ASSESSED: AGILITY

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: **Last time you go splat.** Kerry aptly showed why this Arena should be mountainous again. It isn't.

STRENGHTS: Agility, strength, endurance, strong allies.

WEAKNESSES: Rashness **Balance lol**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 75:1

NOTES: That time was practice. This one's for real. **Encore.**

* * *

NAME: LOGAN QUINN

DISTRICT FIVE MALE

SKILLS ASSESSED: BRAWLING

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: Like his allies, Logan was adept at fighting. He was the most enthusiastic about it. **Pretty sure you put out that guy's eye. Ew...**

STRENGHTS: Strong alliance, combat skills, ferocity

WEAKNESSES: Not likely to attract allies.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 60:1

NOTES: **You all blur.** An eye for an eye.

* * *

NAME: DANIEL MONDINS

DISTRICT FIVE MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SWORD

SKILLS ASSESSED: **Jeez, calm down**! Daniel was very enthusiastic and has improved his weapons skills.

STRENGTHS: Determination, ferocity, single-mindedness

WEAKNESSES: Daniel does not want to win.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Daniel's sanity is slipping, as is his grasp on reality.

ODDS: 200:1

NOTES: I ain't gonna tell you. **That's not healthy**

* * *

NAME: SEVARIAN VASK

DISTRICT FIVE MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: PICKPOCKETING, BRAWLING

SKILLS ASSESSED: Sevarian easily stole the assistant's wallet. He was also adept at street fighting.

STRENGTHS: **He's a mean cuss.** Sevarian is self-sufficient and formidable.

WEAKNESSES: **No one will sponsor that little rip.** Sevarian is rude and will alienate the other Tributes even more than normal.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Antisocial tendencies.

ODDS: 75:1

NOTES: **Get Bloodbathed.** Mean guys finish last, I hope.

* * *

NAME: SARLA MONDINS

DISTRICT FIVE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL

SKILLS ASSESSED: Sarla built a fire and constructed a mud shelter. She was good at it, but that won't win the Games.

STRENGTHS: Strong ally, popularity with allies, cuteness factor with other Tributes.

WEAKNESSES: She won't survive long without Daniel. **OMG I hate interviewing her. I always feel like I have to start an orphanage to atone.**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 190:1

NOTES: Why do they keep doing this to you? **Hey, miracles happen**. (H) Not in Panem.

* * *

NAME: SKYLER DACHER

DISTRICT FIVE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: ARCHERY

SKILLS ASSESSED: Skyler has been diligently working on her skills. She has improved markedly from last time.

STRENGTHS: She's very optimistic and will be popular with sponsors.

WEAKNESSES: She lacks killer instinct.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 100:1

NOTES: **Pollyanna**. I'm rooting for you.

* * *

NAME: LYRA AXELLE

DISTRICT FIVE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: ARCHERY

SKILLS ASSESSED: Lyra has also been practicing. She has improved her archery skills to the point where she will be a threat.

STRENGTHS: Weapons skills, confidence.

WEAKNESSES: **I remember her. SO OBNOXIOUS.** (H) She is not as strong as she thinks.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 65:1

NOTES: Next. **Gonna get your just deserts.**

* * *

NAME: LYTE ANDERSON

DISTRICT SIX MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: HEALING

SKILLS ASSESSED: As expected, Lyte's medical skills were top-notch for anyone who has not been through medical school. **He practically has at this point**

STRENGTHS: Strong, loyal alliance. Lyte has declared neutrality and promised his skills to whoever needs them, meaning it will be to everyone's disadvantage to kill him.

WEAKNESSES: He won't kill people and lacks defensive skills.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Unusually high altruism

ODDS: 150:1

NOTES: They keep doing this. Don't they know you don't want to win? **May the odds be in your favor, little guy.**

* * *

NAME: ADONIA CHILD

DISTRICT SIX FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: DAGGERS

SKILLS ASSESSED: Addie did better than last time, since she's had more practice.

STRENGTHS: Alliance, optimism, not a large target

WEAKNESSES: **Alliance, optimism, not a large target**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 105:1

NOTES: **She's in the Dead Meat alliance**. I'd argue that, but I can't.

* * *

NAME: HADLEY KINNETH

DISTRICT SIX FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: RUNNING, STEALTH

SKILLS ASSESSED: Hadley was okay and running and stealth. She obviously didn't have one particular skill and was more a jack of all trades.

STRENGTHS: Resilience, level-headed

WEAKNESSES: **She should be with Skyler again** She has no particular winning skill.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 75:1

NOTES: **Boring.** I think you got lost in the crowd.

* * *

NAME: VELVET TEK

DISTRICT SIX FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: EVASION

SKILLS ASSESSED: Velvet led the assistants on a chase and kept ahead of them admirably. She will be hard to catch in the Arena.

STRENGTHS: Connection to Bambi Kirkland, will attract sponsors.

WEAKNESSES: **Big mouth** lack of weapons skills and strong alliance

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 80:1

NOTES: I'm sure Bambi will help all he can. **Sucks to be from Ten this year.**

* * *

NAME: REE MORNING

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: KNIVES

SKILLS ASSESSED: Like last time, Ree was unfamiliar with the knives. She wants us to think she'll use them, but she won't.

STRENGTHS: Alliance, sponsors for cuteness

WEAKNESSES: Alliance, lack of fighting skills

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 120:1

NOTES: **It's not nice to resurrect a little kid**. Easy come, easy go.

* * *

"Ooh, let me do these!" Harlequin pleaded. I should have said no, but I was already fried. I'd usually be almost done at this point. I pushed the forms her way and fled to the couch. My brain needed a break. It was time to switch the boob tube to _Hitch me Up._ It was almost time for Jezebel Pink to pick her top five bachelors.

* * *

 **NAME: ZETAN THOMPSON**

 **DISTRICT SEVEN MALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: EDIBLE PLANTS, FIRE**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Zetan ate some plants and made a fire. Good job.**

 **STRENGTHS: Strong allies, self-preservation**

 **WEAKNESSES: Allies are stronger than he is.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Zetan has suffered amnesia about his last Games.**

 **ODDS: 70:1**

 **NOTES: I don't know what Vextrix sees in you.**

* * *

 **NAME: REINER LUDWIG**

 **DISTRICT SEVEN MALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: AXE**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Reiner knows his stuff. He has Peacekeeper ties so it's to be expected.**

 **STRENGTHS: Weapons skills, strong alliance, close ties to Lyte.**

 **WEAKNESSES: Reiner will risk his life to protect Lyte.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing**

 **ODDS: 50:1**

 **NOTES: Keep him safe.**

* * *

 **NAME: ASPER FIN**

 **DISTRICT SEVEN MALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: AXE, HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Asper is very strong and definitely can use an axe. He also threw a bunch of weights around.**

 **STRENGTHS: Strength, tons of sponsors due to fame**

 **WEAKNESSES: No allies, self-sacrificial**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing**

 **ODDS: 55:1**

 **NOTES:** Still as cute as ever. **You're such a fangirl**

* * *

 **NAME: RIVER SUMMERS**

 **DISTRICT SEVEN FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SWORD**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Last time she used a dagger. River transferred her staff skills to a sword and shows great promise.**

 **STRENGTHS: Mental toughness, determination, weaponry, prior performance**

 **WEAKNESSES: She's alone and isn't the strongest Tribute.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Extreme mental endurance**

 **ODDS: 55:1**

 **NOTES: I dig it. Go for it.**

* * *

 **Harley's interruptions are in bold.**


	27. Private Sessions 2

**I did four parts instead because I'm about to leave for my sister's house and this way you could have another chapter. Harlequin is still bold.**

* * *

 **NAME: JUNIE BRETT**

 **DISTRICT SEVEN FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: FIRST AID**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Due to her past in Seven, Junie is familiar with first aid. She showed skill in general injuries, specializing in trauma (which is perfect for the Arena)**

 **STRENGTHS: River and Junie are an ideal pairing. Junie defends and River attacks,**

 **WEAKNESSES: Junie will be reluctant to kill anyone.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing**

 **ODDS: 70:1**

 **NOTES: 4/10 would not bang.**

* * *

 **NAME: EVER FELLOWS**

 **DISTRICT SEVEN FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: THROWING KNIVES**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Ever is naturally good at her weapon. Now that she's been using them so long, she has experience to add to talent.**

 **STRENGTHS: Ranged weapons, alliance**

 **WEAKNESSES: Likely to be targeted by strongest Tributes.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing**

 **ODDS: 60:1**

 **NOTES: I try over and over and all I get is cuts. How do you do that? Not fair!**

* * *

 **NAME: DESIREE REDWOOD**

 **DISTRICT SEVEN FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: STRENGTH, AXE**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: SUPERGOOD. Des is super strong and super good with her axe. And she looks super good too.**

 **STRENGTHS: SMOKING HOT, strong, brave, sponsors.**

 **WEAKNESSES: She'll stay with Electra even if she really should leave.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Crazy good-looking**

 **ODDS: 1:1 (Theodora might try to change this but she's wrong)**

 **NOTES: 10/10 would bang.**

* * *

"This is so boring. How do you do this?" Harlequin asked from the table.

"It pays the bills," I said.

"Break time's over, lazybones. My turn to goof off," she said. She slumped on the couch and I looked over her notes. They weren't _totally_ unusable.

"You're just done because you got to Des," I said.

"I don't see the problem..." she said.

* * *

NAME: BLAISE WESLEY

DISTRICT EIGHT MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL

SKILLS ASSESSED: It was obvious Blaise was uninterested with survival matters, and it showed in his work. His shelter was lacking and his fire was fragile.

STRENGTHS: Strong allies, easy to hide

WEAKNESSES: Lack of strength, doesn't stand out.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 120:1

NOTES: You're just going to die in the Bloodbath again.

* * *

NAME: RYKER MERLIN

DISTRICT EIGHT MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: RUNNING, BOLO

SKILLS ASSESSED: Like last time, Ryker proved to be a great runner. He was also reasonably adept at his newfound weapon. His attacks were meant to slow, not to injure.

STRENGTHS: Speed

WEAKNESSES: **You can't slow someone to death**. He's not aggressive like most Victors.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Tends to feel guilt more acutely than average.

NOTES: You got enough stuff to worry about without guilt. **Yeah, chill out.**

* * *

NAME: ARTER WIRE

DISTRICT EIGHT MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SCYTHE

SKILLS ASSESSED: Though he possessed little knowledge of his weapon, Arter was scarily accurate and _very_ determined. **What the heck was that? The room is Arter-proof, right? I like Theodora's face the way it is!**

STRENGTHS: Singleminded, willing to kill

WEAKNESSES: Obsessive to the point that he will neglect self-care.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Arter seems to have suffered damage in the cloning process. He is obsessed with death and has delusions of being the Grim Reaper.

ODDS: 200:1

NOTES: Forward Arter's file to Titian Qin. This may be the villain he's been looking for.

* * *

NAME: TORCHY CONDEN

DISTRICT EIGHT MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: MACHETE, FIRE

SKILLS ASSESSED: Torchy was very good at making fire. Perhaps he has a history with it. He also showed force and control with the machete.

STRENGTHS: Weapons skills, willing to kill, strength

WEAKNESSES: Extremely volatile alliance.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Marked antisocial tendencies. This is countered by an unexpected new demonstration of empathy with ally Merle Loveridge.

ODDS: 60:1

NOTES: **Torchy and Merle, sitting in a tree...** You're going to have to pick a side.

* * *

NAME: BURGUNDY LUMINEER

DISTRICT EIGHT MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL, SPEAR

SKILLS ASSESSED: Burgundy used the spear more to show willingness than excellence. His survival skills will sustain him in a non-barren Arena.

STRENGTHS: Self-sufficiency

WEAKNESSES: Performance last time. His ally intends to betray him.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Trauma stemming from a rape before he was Resurrected. It is unlikely anything in the Arena will exacerbate this. **Yeah, even we're not that mean.**

NOTES: **Sucks bro.** Hope things get better.

* * *

NAME: JAKE DIAZ

DISTRICT EIGHT MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: CLUB, RUNNING

SKILLS ASSESSED: Jake's baseball skills were put to use in the form of a club and normal running. It is easy to see why he picked the game. **AND THE CROWD GOES WILD**

STRENGTHS: Athletic abilities, alliance.

WEAKNESSES: Hotheaded, impulsive

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 68:1

NOTES: **Going, going, gone!** You still have two strikes.

* * *

NAME: ALICE GRACE SILVIN

DISTRICT EIGHT FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL

SKILLS ASSESSED: Alice will be able to sustain herself for approximately one month in a non-barren Arena.

STRENGTHS: Safety in number of allies, sponsors

WEAKNESSES: Weak alliance, unable to defend herself

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Minor, non-damaging delusion that sympathetic Tributes are heavenly beings.

ODDS: 180:1

NOTES: **Such a cutie pie.** They're not giving you another chance, just making you die again.

* * *

NAME: INCENSE BALBOA

DISTRICT EIGHT FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: TRAPS, SURVIVAL

SKILLS ASSESSED: Incense has been developing her traps and shows meticulous attention for detail. Her survival skills are adequate.

STRENGTHS: Allies, can sustain and defend herself.

WEAKNESSES: Is not a formidable fighter.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

ODDS: 70:1

NOTES: **She'll at least get to fifth place.** One loss, one win. That's even.

* * *

NAME: **BUTTHEAD O'NO** HABER DASHER

DISTRICT EIGHT FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SWORD

SKILLS ASSESSED: What Haber lacked in skill and finesse, she made up for with equally glaring lack of coordination. She roundly proved that words speak louder than actions. **Burn...**

STRENGTHS: Too annoying to get close enough to kill.

WEAKNESSES: Completely, flawlessly hateable. **Crosses, holy water, sunlight, silver.**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Delusions of persecution and irrational prejudice toward males.

ODDS: 170:1

NOTES: **Someone please stake her.** If I have to watch her one more time...

* * *

NAME: SILVER FLOWER

DISTRICT EIGHT FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: JUDO

SKILLS ASSESSED: To our great surprise, Silver managed to convince Pray Jager to instruct her in fighting. Pray does not generally use defensive styles like Judo, but she is familiar with them. Silver was an apt pupil.

STRENGTHS: Sponsors galore, will make her murderer unpopular, mentor

WEAKNESSES: Sacrificial nature, weak allies. **Just plain won't win**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 162:1

NOTES: Gosh can't they let you rest in peace? Hats off, girl. You won't let them win.

* * *

NAME: MILLER THRESHER

DISTRICT NINE MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: EATING

SKILLS ASSESSED: The boy can eat. He ate everything edible in the room and attempted to gain entry to our catering tables by yelling up at us.

STRENGTHS: Weight

WEAKNESSES: A chance to be Panem's hero lies in killing him.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: His IQ test came back negative. **Can't pour water from a boot with instructions on the heel.**

ODDS: 300:1

NOTES: **Oink.** I hope this is the last time.

* * *

NAME: COOPER WOODSON

DISTRICT NINE MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: POETRY

SKILLS ASSESSED: I was never much a poetry. That was probably good stuff. Cooper's odd talent did not show ability to survive in the Arena, though it _was_ pretty.

STRENGTHS: Can keep morale in his alliance up

WEAKNESSES: **You can't eat poems.**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 95:1

NOTES: **How do you know if poems are even good?** There once was a Tribute named Cooper. His rhymes threw us all for a looper. Though his poems were okay, at the end of the day, they'll carry him out in a scooper.

* * *

NAME: TARIQ BLUEGRASS

DISTRICT NINE MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: Sickle

SKILLS ASSESSED: Tariq wielded the sickle with the frenzy only available to someone who knows it's his only chance at life.

STRENGTHS: **He has two arms again.** Alliance, tolerance for low food.

WEAKNESSES: **Do you get phantom pains when you're a clone?** Unlikely to attract sponsors.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Tariq had borderline personality disorder tendencies before his first Reaping. These have been exacerbated by his enormous trauma in the Arena. He is extremely dependent on his allies and has paranoid delusions of betrayal.

ODDS: 115:1

NOTES: **He better not drag Olivier down. I like Olivier.** This won't be pretty.

* * *

NAME: LISBETH MILLER

DISTRICT NINE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: DAGGER

SKILLS ASSESSED: It is clear Lisbeth knows her limitations and will not engage an opponent she cannot beat.

STRENGTHS: Cunning, manipulative, looks out for herself.

WEAKNESSES: **I wouldn't sponsor her a tissue.** Won't attract sponsors, will cause the downfall of her alliance.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Highly manipulative

ODDS: 80:1

NOTES: **Snake.** Karma's a witch.

* * *

NAME: EMMALIE BLUEBELL

DISTRICT NINE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: PICKPOCKETING

SKILLS ASSESSED: Though it is difficult to assess thievery when the assistant knows it's coming, Emmalie was able to demonstrate significant skill with sleight-of-hand.

STRENGTHS: May be able to steal supplies, can evade pursuers.

WEAKNESSES: Her skills require her to get close to her target, who may be stronger than she is. **What if no one has food?**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Low empathy and slight antisocial tendencies.

NOTES: **It's not enough.** It hasn't worked yet.

* * *

"What if you just take a _little_ break?"

"I'm _trying_ to be a _responsible citizen."_

"That's no fun."

It was a good thing I had Harley to help me. If she hadn't been there, who would have told me when Jezebel was about to pick? Who would have thrown a pillow at my head while I was rating Cooper? Who would have made popcorn more loudly than I thought possible? Without her, it would have been impossible.


	28. Private Sessions Part 3

"This is so much better with you here," I said. I'd have been asleep on the table by now without Harley. She wasn't much help at the moment, since she was crashed on the couch. She woke periodically to provide commentary.

* * *

NAME: FELIX VEAUX

DISTRICT TEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: KNIVES

SKILLS ASSESSED: **Knife job. (H)** Real nice. I say that one every year. _Anyway,_ Felix was a butcher, so yeah. He knows knife stuff.

STRENGTHS: Weapons skills, strong alliance

WEAKNESSES: Fondness for Lyte Anderson and lack of killing drive

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 58:1

NOTES: **Are we done yet?** (H) I hope one of you wins. You've been through this enough.

* * *

NAME: CASTIEL WICKHAM

DISTRICT TEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: STEALTH

SKILLS ASSESSED: Castiel is adept at moving quietly and conserving energy. He is stronger than he lets on and is probably better at fighting than he wants to admit.

STRENGTHS: Optimism due to faith, unemotional

WEAKNESSES: Conversely, due to his faith, death is not such a deterrent as it is to other Tributes. **Maybe he'll get a miracle (H)**

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Archaic fixation on supernatural myths.

ODDS: 60:1

NOTES: **Better pray hard (H)** It won't last in the Arena.

* * *

NAME: RORY HARRIS

DISTRICT TEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: WEIGHT LIFTING, KNOT TYING

SKILLS ASSESSED: Rory's skills run the spectrum of visibly impressive to mundanely practical.

STRENGTHS: Affable nature will attract sponsors, large frame from farm work.

WEAKNESSES: Protective of younger Tributes

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 65:1

NOTES: **I do knot think that was worth the weight. (H)** I think we'll see a repeat.

* * *

NAME: CALISTA CORRAL

DISTRICT TEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: IMITATION

SKILLS ASSESSED: **This one was really cool. (H)** Calista immediately made a splash by mimicking the Gamemaker that called her in. She indulged us all in turn as we asked her to do us next. She will be able to apply this skill to Tributes, mutts, and animals.

STRENGTHS: Unique weaponry and unassuming nature.

WEAKNESSES: Lack of direct offensive weapons.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 66:1

NOTES: **Do I really sound like that?** Yep.

* * *

NAME: DELILAH CLEMENTINE

DISTRICT TEN FEMALE

SKILLS ASSESSED: SURVIVAL

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: Delilah went with a variety of simple skills that on their own were plain but together would enable survival in a normal situation, such as making fishhooks, starting a fire, and weaving thatch.

STRENGTHS: All-around knowledge.

WEAKNESSES: Weak ally and likely inability to kill.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Her songs will keep her morale up higher than most Tributes'.

ODDS: 90:1

NOTES: **It's a shame. You could have been Panem's Idol.** (H) You should have been born in the Capitol.

* * *

NAME: ZINNIA FRASER

DISTRICT TEN FEMALE  
SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SPEAR

SKILLS ASSESSED: Zinnia was cooperative this time, which will drastically improve her score. She used the spear to show she was willing, not because she is particularly formidable.

STRENGTHS: She's playing nice with the Capitol, she's cute and will get sponsors.

WEAKNESSES: She will likely continue to antagonize the Capitol in the Arena. She is very small.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Marked rebelliousness toward authority.

ODDS: 130:1

NOTES: _**We'll**_ **still be here next month.** That is so mean! **Don't mess with the bull.**

* * *

NAME: TAWNY STALLYON

DISTRICT TEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL

SKILLS ASSESSED: Tawny was single-minded and methodical. She stuck with what she knew.

STRENGTHS: Levelheaded, alliance

WEAKNESSES: Overly focused- likely to not notice approaching Tributes.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Autism

ODDS: 90:1

NOTES: **What's autism?** It's like this disease where you don't like people. **She seems nice anyway.**

* * *

NAME: SERENA HYLAND

DISTRICT TEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: FIRST AID

SKILLS ASSESSED: Serena knew basic first aid and focused on the types of injuries most likely to occur in the Arena.

STRENGTHS: **People definitely do need first aid in the Arena.**

WEAKNESSES: Not able to kill or defend herself

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Predilection towards phobias

ODDS: 120:1

NOTES: **She won't last long this time (H)** She wouldn't have anyway.

* * *

NAME: EVE SABLE

DISTRICT TEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: KNIVES

SKILLS ASSESSED: Like Felix, Eve has a background in butchery, which shows.

STRENGTHS: Weapons skills with knives make her look too scary to mess with

WEAKNESSES: It's easier to cut meat than a person.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 80:1

NOTES: **They always say Ten Tributes know knives, but they only have two Victors and neither used knives.** Maybe she'll break the pattern?

* * *

NAME: JAY DALLAS

DISTRICT ELEVEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SPEAR

SKILLS ASSESSED: Jay is fit and has sufficient practice with a spear.

STRENGTHS: Strong alliance, likely to get sponsors, leadership skills

WEAKNESSES: **Really bad luck (H)** may be a target for strong Tributes.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 60:1

NOTES: **He always gets a bum deal.** So do 23 Tributes every year.

* * *

NAME: AUSTIN DALLAS

DISTRICT ELEVEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SWORD

SKILLS ASSESSED: Austin was not as skilled as his brother, but their styles are very similar.

STRENGTHS: Alliance, plus he's with his brother so they're even more loyal.

WEAKNESSES: There are just a lot of Tributes stronger than him.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: He and Jay are so similar they seem like identical twins

ODDS: 68:1

NOTES: **How do you tell them apart?** You must get called the wrong name a lot.

* * *

NAME: OLIVIER FOWLER

DISTRICT ELEVEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL

SKILLS ASSESSED: I was really looking forward to this one. Last time Olivier did awesome magic, but it's lost now. He just halfheartedly made some rope.

STRENGTHS: Maybe sponsors? **This is really depressing.**

WEAKNESSES: Tariq is an unstable ally, and obviously his heart isn't in it.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: No disorders. He's just sad.

ODDS: 140:1

NOTES: **I don't think I could do your job. (H)** Maybe this is a trick too? I really hope so.

* * *

NAME: FRANKIE DISNEY

DISTRICT ELEVEN MALE

SKILLS DEMOSTRATED: ARCHERY

SKILLS ASSESSED: Though he's not a Career, Frankie is the most skilled male Tribute this year. His skills are top-notch.

STRENGTHS: Frankie and Vera are by far the strongest pair in the Games. Frankie's coldness and weapons skills give him a huge advantage.

WEAKNESSES: Frankie has displayed self-sacrifice to the point of death, despite his emotional aberrance.

PSYCHOLIGICAL PROFILE: Complete alexithymia of unknown origin, present from birth.

ODDS: 40:1

NOTES: **You're just weird. (H)** I thought you'd win last time.

* * *

NAME: APOLLO WILSON

DISTRICT ELEVEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SPEAR

SKILLS ASSESSED: Apollo has always put on a good show. His stature is impressive and his strikes are powerful and damaging.

STRENGTHS: **He has a good mentor. (H)** It would be a good story if the two twins were reunited. This will attract sponsors and gamblers, which will increase his odds. Alliance.

WEAKNESSES: Peppermint was always the duo's brains. She is also a notoriously difficult Victor and Snow may not want her to have this happiness.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 60:1

NOTES: **I like Pepper. I hope you win if Des doesn't. (H)** I can't watch this again.

* * *

NAME: LEO SERROCOLD

DISTRICT ELEVEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: EDIBLE PLANTS

SKILLS ASSESSED: Leo's alliance is intelligently organized. Leo is obviously assigned to everyday duties and will pull his weight by gathering food, which he proved adept at.

STRENGTHS: Strong alliance and ability to survive.

WEAKNESSES: No demonstrated ability to fight.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 68:1

NOTES: **Food doesn't win the Games. (H)** Sometimes it does.

* * *

NAME: ARDEN GRAKE  
DISTRICT ELEVEN MALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: RUNNING

SKILLS ASSESSED: Arden underperformed in his session. I hypothesize that he wanted to be unnoticed by us. He doesn't want to be a target, which shows insight and cunning.

STRENGTHS: He's on to us.

WEAKNESSES: Past performance has caused him to become somewhat of a meme.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Unusually well-adjusted as far as Tributes go.

ODDS: 65:1

NOTES: **This is because of that dinosaur thing. He thinks we want to do it again (H).** Bingo. If there were dinosaurs in this Arena I probably would have. Busted.

* * *

NAME: AZALEA MEADOWS

DISTRICT ELEVEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SWORD

SKILLS ASSESSED: Azalea was not as good as she thought she was, but at least she is willing.

STRENGTHS: Willing to kill, confidence, aggression

WEAKNESSES: Overconfidence, arrogance, will attack Tribute she can't beat

PSYCHOLIGICAL PROFILE: Mild antisocial tendencies

ODDS: 100:1

NOTES: We should be sure to provide her with her weapon since she is among the few Tributes willing to kill and speed this thing up. **She'll** _ **try**_ **to kill**

* * *

NAME: VEXTRIX WEBB

DISTRICT ELEVEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: CLIMBING, FORAGING

SKILLS ASSESSED: In this Arena, the foraging should be useful.

STRENGTHS: We know from previous performance that Vextrix knows to cut her losses. She is also determined and unlikely to become depressed.

WEAKNESSES: Inability to form relationships, lack of weapons skills

PSYCHOLIGICAL PROFILE: Very low emotional intelligence

ODDS: 68:1

NOTES: **Aww but Hoban's not here.** Guess we'll see what you're made of.

* * *

NAME: DOMINIQUE RINDELLE

DISTRICT ELEVEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SPRINTING

SKILLS ASSESSED: We know from previous sessions that Dominique excels at all forms of running. She showcased sprinting to communicate her Bloodbath plans.

STRENGTHS: Dominique is the best runner in the Games, alliance

WEAKNESSES: Not aggressive and likely unable to fight.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 60:1

NOTES: **Run Dominique run!** That would make for an interesting victory. It worked for Kazuo.

* * *

NAME: WILLOW TRILL

DISTRICT ELEVEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: EDIBLE PLANTS

SKILLS ASSESSED: Willow will be able to survive in this Arena.

STRENGTHS: Not a big target, survival skills

WEAKNESSES: Unable to challenge most other Tributes in combat, does not excel in any one skill

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing

ODDS: 105:1

NOTES: **Why would they pick you?** Bloodbath fodder.

* * *

NAME: ANISE HAEFFELE

DISTRICT ELEVEN FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SHELTERS

SKILLS ASSESSED: As is appropriate for Anise, she was able to construct a protective shelter. **Just like she shelters other Tributes. That's deep**

STRENGTHS: Appealing to sponsors, alliance, not a big target

WEAKNESSES: Extremely sacrificial, does not want to win as much as many Tributes, will put herself at risk for others

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Noticeably more depressed than last time.

ODDS: 200:1

NOTES: **It would be really funny if she died for Alice again.** She needs a statue, not a resurrection.

* * *

NAME: BETH O'DARIELLE

DISTRICT TWELVE FEMALE

SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: DAGGER **MURDER**

SKILLS ASSESSED: Beth was less concerned with killing her target and more concerned with hurting it. **Now I know what those things are stuffed with.**

STRENGTHS: Aggression, alliance of equals, leadership by default, too scary to attack

WEAKNESSES: Unappealing personality, **psycho,** likely to pick a fight she can't win

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Antisocial personality disorder

ODDS: 80:1

NOTES: **I see why they wanted her but ugh.** We should be sure to provide Beth with weapons and ensure that mutts do not attack her until well into the Games.

* * *

Harley woke for real when I tossed a pillow at her head. She rolled off the couch in a frizzy-haired heap and I took her spot.

"Done yet?" she asked.

"Only Twelve is left. It's all you," I said. Harley grumpily sat at the table as I tried to get some rest.


	29. Private Sessions Finale

_Oh it's all me is it? Big lazybones. This is_ your _job. I was just here for moral support. Fine. You want reports? You got reports._

* * *

 **NAME: MOUSE PARENTII**

 **DISTRICT TWELVE MALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: PICKPOCKETING**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Yep he picked the pockets.**

 **STRENGTHS: Picking pockets**

 **WEAKNESSES: Not picking pockets.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Super scared of Mist Hastings but she's not here.**

 **ODDS:** ** _Ew, math. My old nemesis._** **"Thea?"** 130:1

 **NOTES: OMG I saw you with Alice earlier. So cute.**

* * *

 **NAME: CHASE ENDERS**

 **DISTRICT TWELVE MALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: He's from Twelve, so he's used to digging through garbage. He won't go hungry.**

 **STRENGTHS: Super optimistic. That's about it.**

 **WEAKNESSES: Pretty much everything else.**

 **PSYCHOLIGICAL PROFILE: Unusually resilient.**

 **ODDS:** 140:1

 **NOTES: Sun'll come out tomorrow. You won't.**

* * *

 **NAME: JACK VOID**

 **DISTRICT TWELVE MALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: MACHETE**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Okay that was whack. Jack shredded the dummy. Pretty sure that thing was dead two minutes in.**

 **STRENGTHS: Killin' stuff.**

 **WEAKNESSES: Can't swim, ugly as sin.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Literally everything. Highlights from his file: Horrible damage from dependent relationship with mother. Severely hydrophobic. Flat affect and lack of empathy. Acute sociopathy. Full file enclosed.**

 **ODDS:** 50:1

 **NOTES: Just ew.**

* * *

 **NAME: ALINTA FINTAN**

 **DISTRICT TWELVE FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: SURVIVAL**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: She's from Twelve, so her skills were as expected. We should send those guys some food. I have tons of leftovers.**

 **STRENGTHS: Alliance, relationship with Silver, optimism and resilience, sponsors**

 **WEAKNESSES: Young age, inability to fight, rebellious tendencies**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Unusual mental toughness**

 **ODDS:** 120:1

 **NOTES: Wouldn't that grind everyone's gears if a twelve-year-old won?**

* * *

 **NAME: MERLE LOVERIDGE**

 **DISTRICT TWELVE FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: FIRST AID**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: This went way better than last time. Instead of poisoning herself, Merle correctly mixed medicines and administered first aid.**

 **STRENGTHS: Invaluable ally**

 **WEAKNESSES: Terrible alliance and extreme naivety.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Merle was repaired during cloning after the neurological damage of the poison she took accidentally last time.**

 **ODDS:** 150:1

 **NOTES: Why on earth are you with those guys?**

* * *

 **NAME: ZACH CONNOUIS**

 **DISTRICT ELEVEN FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: HAND-TO-HAND**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Sorry, I forgot Zach. He was more restrained in his fighting, like he learned in a school and not the streets.**

 **STRENGTHS: Very muscular, strong alliance, positive attitude.**

 **WEAKNESSES: Will be lost without a leader, tempting target for Tributes looking to prove themselves.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Nothing**

 **ODDS:** 68:1 **  
NOTES: There's a reason I forgot you.**

* * *

 **NAME: MINDI HOSTLER**

 **DISTRICT TWELVE FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: LOOKING PRETTY**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Unsuccessful due to not being as pretty as she thought.**

 **STRENGTHS: Not ugly I guess**

 **WEAKNESSES: Vanity, stupidity, overconfidence, disdain for mentor, naivety, personality, weakness, lack of skills, inep**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Terminal stupidity**

 **ODDS:** 310:1

 **NOTES: I ran out of room on the weaknesses blank. Ineptitude, pride, annoying voice, bad makeup skills, histrionics, and general failure.**

* * *

 **NAME: ELARA ANGELO**

 **DISTRICT TWELVE FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: RUNNING, SURVIVAL**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Of all the people who showed survival skills, Elara was the only one I think can make a win of them. She has her head on straight.**

 **STRENGTHS: Self-sufficiency, all-around skills**

 **WEAKNESSES: It's going to be tough to go it alone.**

 **PSYCHOLIGICAL PROFILE: Nothing**

 **ODDS:** 55:1

 **NOTES: Twelve might have another Victor.**

* * *

 **NAME: PEACH UNK**

 **DISTRICT TWELVE FEMALE**

 **SKILLS DEMONSTRATED: PITCHFORK**

 **SKILLS ASSESSED: Peach politely asked for us to put a pitchfork in the Arena. We may grant this request since it is the most civil we have ever seen Peach. She didn't even use any foul language.**

 **STRENGTHS: She's learning to play the game and is willing to kill.**

 **WEAKNESSES: She still hates the Capitol. I work in show biz. I can tell fake respect when I see it. They'll be watching to see if she acts up.**

 **PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: Difficulty with authority.**

 **ODDS:** 90:1

 **NOTES: I don't even care I'm done.**

* * *

I triumphantly piled the papers up and smacked them onto the table. I stumbled across the room and fell onto the couch halfway on top of and across Theodora, who squirmed and protested faintly and unintelligibly. The couch was barely long enough for us and the light was still on, but it was the best sleep I'd gotten in months.


	30. Scores

**Tinks helpfully pointed it out in the reviews, but I will too. I added the missing Tributes in chapter 31 so it wouldn't disrupt the flow.**

* * *

 **0: MILLER THRESHER,**

 **1:**

 **2: HABER DASHER, OLIVIER FOWLER**

 **3: GABRIEL FARAD**

 **4: SERENA HYLAND, PANDORA SENT, TARIQ BLUEGRASS, CHASE ENDERS**

 **5: REE MORNING, ZINNIA FRASER, ALICE SILVIN, BLAISE WESLEY, ADONIA CHILD, SKYLER DACHER, ANISE HAEFFELE, DELILAH CLEMENTINE, AZALEA MEADOWS, MERLE LOVERIDGE, DANIEL MONDINS, EVE SABLE, WILLOW TRILL**

 **6: SARLA MONDINS, CELESTIAL YEAGER, KERRY SAMOSA, WYATT SPARKS, VELVET TEK, BURGUNDY LUMINEER, INCENSE BALBOA, SILVER FLOWER, ALINTA FINTAN, LEO SERROCOLD, COOPER WOODSON, EMMALIE BLUEBELL**

 **7: LYRA AXELLE, HADLEY KINNETH, ZETAN THOMPSON, ASPER FIN, RYKER MERLIN, ARTER WIRE, TAWNY STALLYON, PEACH UNK, ARDEN GRAKE, AUSTIN DALLAS, MOUSE PARENTII, SEVARIAN VASK, LYTE ANDERSON, LOGAN QUINN, DeMARCUS KING, JAKE DIAZ, RORY HARRIS, ELECTRA MAGNETA, ZACH CONNOUIS, JUNIE BRETT**

 **8: AUSTIN DALLAS, APOLLO WILSON, FELIX VEAUX, CASTIEL WICKHAM, TORCHY CONDEN, JACK VOID, BETH O'DARIELLE, DOMINIQUE RINDELLE, VEXTRIX WEBB, EVER FELLOWS, RIVER SUMMERS, REINER LUDWIG, CALISTA CORRAL, LISBETH MILLER**

 **9: ELARA ANGELO, DESIREE REDWOOD, EMMELINE BLYTHE, GIZMO TORRENS**

 **10: VERA BUSATTIL, FRANKIE DISNEY**

 **11:**

 **12:**

* * *

Pandora Sent: _They're trying to be nice even though I'm blind. That's nice of them._

DeMarcus King: _Our alliance is really strong._

Gizmo Torrens: _They'll be targeting me now._

Wyatt Sparks: _Why Dominique got so much better than me?_

Electra Magenta: _Des will probably win._

Emmeline Blythe: _There's a possibility._

Vera Busattil: _Is it fair even though I was trained?_

Celestial Yeager: _There's so many names._

Gabriel Farad: _It's because I'm deaf. Rude._

Kerry Samosa: _I'd have gotten a higher score if it was a cliffy Arena. Drat._

Logan Quinn: _We should target Frankie at the Bloodbath._

Daniel Mondins: _I have to work harder._

Sevarian Vask: _Stear clear of that big alliance._

Sarla Mondins: _It's not going to be enough._

Skyler Dacher: _I did better than a lot of people._

Lyra Axelle: _I deserve it._

Lyte Anderson: _I hope Reiner wins._

Addie Child: _Nu-uh! I did good!_

Hadley Kinneth: _Oh my gosh Skyler_ is _here!_

Velvet Tek: _I got a rat's chance in a sinking ship._

Ree Morning: _Yay, Junie did good. She has good allies._

Zetan Thompson: _I should have stayed with Gizmo._

Reiner Ludwig: _We've got this._

Asper Fin: _Can I be done after this?  
_ Desiree Redwood: _I'm the cream of the crop!_

River Summers: _Really?_

Junie Brett: _River did really good._

Ever Fellows: _We're looking really strong._

Blaise Wesley: _They should have let me fight too._

Ryker Merlin: _I'm getting better._

Arter Wire: _Seventy-three dead._

Torchy Conden: _I'm allied with Beth..._

Burgundy Lumineer: _Not terrible I guess?_

Jake Diaz: _One of us will probably win._

Alice Silvin: _Wish it was the Drawing Games._

Incense Balboa: _Six is two threes. Threes. Ugh._

Haber Dasher: _Unacceptable!_

Silver Flower: _I'm going to lose most of them._

Miller Thresher: _Idiots forgot the 1._

Cooper Woodson: _Good, Leo got a six too. I won't get teased alone._

Tariq Bluegrass: _Please no spiders._

Lisbeth Miller: _I should have done worse so they wouldn't know._

Emmalie Bluebell: _Not good._

Felix Veaux: _It's going to be Vera. Frankie wouldn't do it without her._

Castiel Wickham: _I should pray for Miller. I don't want to though._

Rory Harris: _Zinnia hardly needs my help._

Calista Corral: _You're kidding me._

Delilah Clementine: _They just go on and on..._

Zinnia Fraser: _I couldn't have done much more. I'm twelve!_

Tawny Stallyon: _That vase is really pretty._

Serena Hyland: _Maybe it's not so bad?_

Eve Sable: _Hey, I used the knives well!_

Jay Dallas: _Okay, that's good._

Austin Dallas: _That's funny I got less than Jay since I had myself about convinced I was his reincarnation._

Olivier Fowler _: Get it done with._

 _F_ rankie Disney _: Good, Vera did well._

Apollo Wilson: _Why is Pepper ignoring me?_

Leo Serrocold: _Good, Cooper got a six too. I won't get teased alone._

Arden Grake: _Wonderful._

Azalea Meadows: _You just wait and see!_

Vextrix Webb _: Gizmo and Emmeline must be really smart._

Dominique Rindelle: _Ha, I did way better than Wyatt._

Willow Trill: _Yeah, I knew it._

Anise Haeffele: _Just a few more days._

Mouse Parentii: _Me and Alice did well if you put us together._

Chase Enders: _I had lots of fun in the Capitol._

Jack Void: _…_

Alinta Fintan: _I can do it. I'm tough._

Beth O'Darielle: _Maybe Alice first. Then I can kill Mouse over her corpse._

Merle Loveridge: _My allies did so well!_

Mindi Hostler: _Someone's going to get fired._

Elara Angelo: _If I do everything right, I might win._

Peach Unk: _Numbers aren't everything._

* * *

 **I'm sure no one will be surprised to learn I messed up someone's session. Junie actually did axe work, which she's been working on frenetically because she knows she'll need to kill to win.**


	31. Some Interviews

Harlequin Marceau

The stage looked a little different this time, and I was _very_ thankful. Instead of me having to come up with seventy-four unique dialogues, we were doing a speed dating style. As each Tribute appeared onstage, a bowl rose out of a pedestal in front of me. It was filled with questions from the audience, and I picked one for each Tribute. We just didn't have time for any more than that. I only hoped I didn't pick the same question over and over.

* * *

 _Shine Plasmeous-_ Pandora, is your name going to come into play in the Arena? Are you going to unleash Pandora's Box?

"I hope not! If I do, it will be by accident."

* * *

 _Jaye Mann-_ DeMarcus, what do you think of the treatment of primates in Capitol zoos?

"I don't live here. I have no idea."

* * *

 _Artose Drinkle-_ Gizmo, how do you feel about your ally winning? And what are your thoughts on your new alliance?

"Nubu's a great guy. I'm really glad he won. He deserved it. I'm sorry he's not here to be my ally again, though. My new allies are great, but Nubu was pretty solid."

* * *

 _Telemachus Ovid:_ Gizmo, what's the dumbest joke you know?

"There's this one joke about an egg. Never mind, it's rotten."

* * *

 _Saphira Bulb:_ Electra, have you gotten taller?

"Yeah, there was a mixup when I got cloned. I'm kind of off-balance now but I'm getting better."

* * *

 _Jocasta Foil:_ Emmeline, just how smart are you?

"I'd say at least five."

* * *

 _Falene Genoise:_ Vera, how do you feel about being the only Career?

"It's definitely an advantage. I feel bad, but it wasn't my idea. I wasn't the strongest Career anyway. I died first originally. Except Whyte, heh."

* * *

 _Letitia Armoire:_ Celestial, do you miss Dane?

"I'm glad he doesn't have to go through this again."

* * *

 _Achilles Saucer:_ Gabriel, why'd you ally with a singer when you can't hear?

 _I can feel it. She's really good, isn't she?_

* * *

 _Homer Tack:_ Kerry, what's your favorite color?

"Why'd I get the dumb question? Orange."

* * *

 _Pollyanna Peppercorn:_ Logan, are you in a gang?

"Of course not! That would be illegal!"

* * *

 _Messalina Sheet:_ Daniel, what's your ideal first date?

"I'd like to take her outside the city to see the stars. It's always so bright in Five. We hardly ever see them."

* * *

 _Otis Fontaine:_ Sevarian, do you regret how you acted in your last Games?

"Heck yeah. I wish I'd won."

* * *

 _Cassia Star:_ Sarla, why did you get a better score than Daniel?

"Probably because I'm cuter."

* * *

 _Drusilla Bracket:_ Skyler, which of your opponents would win in a rap battle?

"Maybe Cooper? He rhymes a lot. Maybe Gabriel. We can't tell if signs rhyme so he could say anything."

* * *

 _Wuxia Pane:_ Lyra, what's the square root of 32?

"Um... something around five and a half."

* * *

 _Nymphadora Java:_ Lyte, do you have a lady friend?

"I am twelve years old."

* * *

 _Danae Hoop:_ Adonia, you died in the Bloodbath. Why was that?

"Why would you ask about that? It's embarrassing!"

* * *

 _Geordana Whisp:_ Hadley, are you mad Tillo won after she killed you?

"I mean, I was trying to kill her too at the time, so..."

* * *

 _Netra Lockheart:_ Velvet, are you going to marry Bambi if you win?

"I'm game, but I might have to ask him first."

* * *

 **I was going to do them all in one massive chapter but I thought if I did a few first, everyone could see the pattern and anyone who didn't know they could send in questions could see it and do so if they wanted. I can make up 70 if I have to (some of these are mine) but they'll get weird after a while.**


	32. More Interviews

**These are short enough to make into one chapter but I put this part up so you can read while I finish.**

* * *

 _Bilius Amer:_ Ree, are the men in the Capitol the handsomest you've ever seen?

"I'm with Lyte on this one."

* * *

 _Alouette Stix:_ Zetan, why are you named after a bad guy?

"I don't know. I was very young when it happened."

* * *

 _Denetra Croquet:_ Reiner, do you miss Khaleesi?

"Yes, I do. What did you expect?"

* * *

 _Troilus Capulet:_ Asper, have you had your first kiss yet? Tell us about it!

"Not yet. Maybe for a generous sponsor?"

* * *

Harlequin Marceau

I made an executive decision for River, who was holding a smooth plank of wood.

"What's that you have?" I asked, disregarding the bowl. She held it out to face the audience.

"I made it for my parents," she said. It was carved to read _My love for you is eternal._ Seven really tugs at the heartstrings this year.

* * *

 _Alexandra Dartra:_ Juniper, what is your strategy for the Arena?

"My strategy is not to make the mistake of losing."

* * *

 _Eritrea Andratus:_ Ever, who do you think will die first?

"Miller."

* * *

 _Desiree, what's your favorite animal?_

"This one's from... Cupidora Lovette. It says, 'Desiree, what would you do if Harlequin kissed you right now?'"

"I'd do _this!"_ Ratings haven't been so high since the assassination attempt on Seutonius back in the third Games.

* * *

 _Germanus Filigree:_ Blaise, which District is most lit?

"Five is the power District. They have a lot of lights."

* * *

 _Pyramus Pear:_ Ryker, which Tribute is the scariest?

"That would be Beth."

* * *

 _Thisbe Shakes:_ Arter, what's the first thing you're going to do in the Arena?

"Kill."

* * *

 _Integra Poulette:_ Torchy, when is your birthday?

"September fifth. You can send presents to the Victor's Village. I like fireworks."

* * *

 _Lamia Carob_ : Burgundy, what's the best part about living in Eight?

"We're not as poor as Twelve."

* * *

 _Francisco Corvallio:_ Jake, if you don't win, who do you hope does?

"Austin's a really cool guy. I hope he wins. Of course, any of my allies would be good."

* * *

 _Dianna Deity:_ Alice, where's your stuffed deer? _Great, now she's crying. How's she going to answer?_

"I lost it! I really miss it."

* * *

 _Phaedranna Videtros:_ Incense, what do you hope the Arena will be?

"I hope it's something like the mall. It would be easier to find food. Most of all I just hope it's really big."

* * *

 _Homunculus Mask:_ Haber, why do you hate men?

"Because they suck."

* * *

 _Red Wood:_ Silver, what's your favorite color?

"Lavender."

* * *

 _Kai Pin:_ Eve, how do you feel about no Careers this year?

"It's great! Now anyone can win. Of course, there's still seventy-three of us..."

* * *

 _Plasma Shineous:_ Miller, why do you look like a fat cake?

"I do _not!"_

* * *

 _Belinda Butane:_ Cooper, can you do a freestyle about the Games?

"They thrill in the kill. When the will lies still, the ordeal is fulfilled. It's a bitter pill when victory becomes real."

* * *

 _Aloysius Heron:_ Tariq, what's it like to get eaten by spiders?

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

* * *

 _Anita Crescent:_ Lisbeth, if you had to change Districts, which would you pick?

"No-brainer. District One has shiny things."

* * *

 _Ajax Tchotchke:_ Emmalie, why should you win the Games?

"I'm cunning and a lot of people underestimate me."

* * *

 **Desiree has been getting more attention because her story with Harlequin obviously has to get completed before they're separated. After that things will even back up.**


	33. Rest of the Interviews

**I think I put this as an update instead of listing it in a new chapter, so just in case: I got Junie's session wrong and she actually did axes, since she wants to have an offensive skill.**

* * *

 _Juanetta Bead:_ Felix, how's your relationship with Felix Jr.?

"It's pretty weird. I do my best to spend time with him when I can. Tillo's a great mother though, so he's doing fine."

* * *

 _Ophelia Scroll:_ Castiel, how do you feel about coming back when you killed yourself last time?

"I just wanted to put someone else first. After I read more, I don't think I was actually called to do that. I'm allowed to try to stay alive."

* * *

 _Sylvester Stud:_ Rory, what's the first thing you'll do if you win?

"Eat ten cakes."

* * *

 _Amanita Wreath:_ Calista, which of your opponents is the handsomest?

"Oh shucks... okay, it's Logan. I like muscley guys, okay?"

* * *

 _Horace Greeley:_ Delilah, what's your favorite song?

"'Buked and Scorned. Can I sing a bit?"

* * *

 _Artoise Stella:_ Zinnia, which would win in a fight- a clown or a stylist?

"The clown would win because it would squirt the stylist with its squirty flower and blind him."

* * *

 _Equestria Pie:_ Tawny, what was your best subject in school?

"I like math because it's always the same."

* * *

 _Carinne Basket:_ Serena, if you could have one superpower, what would it be?

"Super speed. Then no one could catch me."

* * *

 _Fannie Dooley:_ Jay, what are you most afraid of?

"My worst nightmare is that the Arena is full of hot babes in bikinis."

* * *

 _Quervos Jose:_ Austin, what will you do if you and Jay are the last two?

"Guess we'll have to arm wrestle for it."

* * *

 _Hippolyta Lasso:_ Zach, which of your opponents is the prettiest?

"I like River. I'm glad her hair is longer this time."

* * *

 _Vivica Fox:_ Olivier, can you do a magic trick for us?

"Sure, I guess."

* * *

 _Pernilia Pringle:_ Frankie, what's it like to be back together with Vera? Do you want to be a father if you win?

"I only wish we weren't together like this. I want her to be safe. And she can decide if she's ready for another baby."

* * *

 _Degory Dietrich:_ Apollo, how much older is your sister than you now?

"Shoot. Old enough to be my mother."

* * *

 _Caligula Whistle:_ Leo, who's your first pick to kill?

"That's a really morbid question. I guess if I had to kill someone it would be Beth, so she couldn't kill someone else."

* * *

 _Marcellus Leaf:_ Arden, what's your favorite Games moment?

"I liked it when the Camazotz fought Ah-Puch."

* * *

 _Petunia Petal:_ Azalea, how many people are you going to kill in the Arena?

"Oh, in the _Arena._ Just kidding, of course. I think around ten."

* * *

 _Netra Lockheart:_ Vextrix, is there something between you and Zetan?

"We just met. The Arena isn't really the place for that. We'll see what we can do."

* * *

 _Vashti Queen:_ Dominique, who's your favorite Victor not from Eleven?

"I like Soleil. She's very graceful and modest."

* * *

 _Luna Balsam:_ Willow, what's the most embarrassing story you can tell us?

"One time I was walking through a bunch of kids and I bumped into one. I said 'excuse me, little guy.' He turned around and he was a dwarf."

* * *

 _Candy Hook:_ Anise, are you going to sacrifice yourself again?

"I really hope there aren't any spiders this time. And I hope I'm brave enough."

* * *

 _Octavian Rex:_ Mouse, I want to sponsor you. What do you want most?

"A stuffed deer."

* * *

 _Nemo Curae:_ Chase, what do you hope _isn't_ in the Arena?

"I am not that dumb."

* * *

 _Lethe Relief:_ Jack, are you scared about the Games?

"No."

* * *

 _Sadie Hawkins:_ Alinta, what's on your bucket list?

"I want to ride a tiger and see a volcano erupt."

* * *

 _Hannah Victrola:_ Beth, what are you going to do if you win and can't kill anymore?

"Maybe they'll let me be an executioner for my talent."

* * *

 _Darius Mede:_ Merle, however did you end up with your alliance?

"People were giving them a bum rap. I know they're not as bad as people say. You have to give people a chance."

* * *

 _Yvette Mimieux:_ Mindi, do you like looking like a clown or are you just colorblind?

" _Rude!"_

* * *

 _Justin Sconce:_ "Elara, what will your talent be if you win?"

"I'd like to do something decorative. Myrtle was so good at those things."

* * *

 _Quintus Captain:_ Peach, do you hate the Capitol?

"Of course not! I just _love_ the Capitol! They brought me back to life, after all! They're the _best!"_

* * *

 **After inventing about fifty Capitolite names, I am for once glad my snob school made me read a ton of useless Greek books. For the last names, they pretty much tell you what was in the living room where I wrote this. It's also probably clear where I started to get goofy.**


	34. Penultimate Ponderings

**If you're reading this, you expect a whole mess of dead kids. However, there's something ever so much worse in this chapter: premarital intercourse! So feel free to skip this if you don't approve of such foul matters.**

* * *

Merle Loveridge

I'd been in the Capitol so long it was weird to think tomorrow was the Games. Of course I was nervous, but I was sort of excited, too. I'd finally watched the tapes of my last Games and I knew what happened. This time was going to be better. Last time was a fiasco, but I thought something good could come of it. Back at home, a lot of people thought I deserved to die. Now I _had_ died. I'd paid my debt and this time people might not hate me so much. And most helpfully of all, most of the people who hated me had long ago moved on. I was anonymous again, and that was great.

I wanted to check in with my allies before the Bloodbath. But honestly, they were a bit scary other than Torchy, so I went to him first so we could visit the others together. He didn't look surprised when I showed up.

"Oh, Merle. I was hoping I'd see you," he said.

"Oh, really? What is it?" I asked.

"I don't think you're working out in our alliance. You should go," he said.

"What? Why?!" I asked. I'd never made any trouble.

"You just don't fit in, okay? We don't want you," he said. I had no idea what I'd done. It was all so sudden. Torchy slammed the door on me before I could say anything else. I'd have to see what the others had said about this.

* * *

Sevarian Vask

There was a lot to plan for. This wasn't any ordinary Games. It was going to be even more spectacular than normal, and that certainly included the Bloodbath. Something big was going to happen there, and I wanted to be ready for it.

I'd seen most of the tapes of previous Games. At first I thought there would be mutts in the Cornucopia, but that had been done before. My next guess was a disaster right when the gong went off. I went through the list in my head. _A fire? A tornado? They already did a meteor shower. No, it will be an earthquake. They 'raised' the Tributes from their graves. Now they'll rebury them._

It was either that or one other thing. My other suspicion was that the Cornucopia was filled with nothing but explosives. That would certainly shorten the Games. The strongest Tributes, like Vera and Frankie, would run in to get weapons. A lot of the other Tributes would run in because there were fewer murderous Tributes and they had a chance to get food. Half the Tributes would go sky high at once, and the rest wouldn't last as long without supplies.

That seemed even more likely. In either case, I wasn't going anywhere near the Cornucopia. I knew what was good for me.

* * *

Calista Corral

Haber was a little mad at me. I knew she wouldn't like me talking about cute boys, It wasn't my fault Harlequin asked me. I was just trying to be a good interviewee. It wasn't like I pined constantly for Logan's sweet embrace. I just thought he wasn't ugly.

I supported the cause. I knew we were supposed to help all our sisters and defend against the male menace. I just wasn't _quite_ as enthusiastic as Haber. It was a very noble cause, but we needed a _few_ men. How are we going to have any daughters without men? They were a necessary evil. I hated to disappoint Haber, though. I made a note to be extra devoted going forward.

It was wonderful to have a real alliance. We all knew we had each others' backs, and we were like a ready-made circle of friends. I was excited to use my skills to help my alliance. I felt like an important part of our team and I was much more optimistic about my chances this time.

Last time, I just felt like a Tribute. This time, I was a crusader. My alliance was going to do important things in the Arena. We'd grow even closer to each other and defend against hostile outsiders. It was all tremendously important.

* * *

Logan Quinn

I wanted the Games to hurry up and start. Not that I was itching to charge into a deathmatch. It was just worse to anticipate it than to actually participate in it. I had that same anxious energy I got before a gang rumble. The Games were a lot like that. There was my gang. There were the bunch from the far Districts. Nobody liked them. The other major gang was Vera and her allies. We'd be providing the lion's share of the excitement in the Arena.

I thought back to the interviews. Each of us had flashed our gang sign after we answered our questions. The audience must have seen a seamlessly connected band of brothers. Any one Tribute had a one in seventy-three chance of winning. Any individual was as fragile as a thread. Together, we were so much stronger. Even if only one of us would make it to the end, it would be with the help of all the rest. Sometimes we lost members in fights, but the gang always went on.

I never wanted to forget any of my allies. I was probably closest to DeMarcus, since we understood each other so well. Then there was Blaise, who seemed so much younger than the rest of us, but was still full of scrap. Zach was like the gang's wing man, always ready with jokes and encouragement. Jay always wanted to be the first to fight. No one could lead me, but I respected him as an equal. Austin was so much like him, but he was quieter and more introspective. Cooper was a bit of a hippie, but I liked him anyway. And Leo was our support system. Every one of us was necessary. I didn't want to lose a single one.

* * *

Desiree Redwood

I _thought_ I felt something when Harlequin grabbed me. At first I thought she just wanted a feel, but then I felt the paper against my skin. I smuggled it into my pocket and unfolded it after I was alone backstage.

 _Go out the back door. There's a broom closet down the hall. It's unlocked. See you at midnight, Cinderella ;P ;)_

No one would put a camera in a broom closet, since no one would be stupid enough to plot anything in the Games Building. There weren't any cameras in there, just a very large and out-of-place shag rug. And the loveliest lady in Panem.

* * *

 **Now Des' Capitol arc is complete and she'll go back to normal exposure. My system is to color in the text of each Tribute as they get POVs so I know which ones need to come next. I colored Des two colors as a reminder. Here's hoping it works this time.**

 **Up next: the tubes. After that, it's the Bloodbath.**

 **Oops, forgot to mention: Technically Des is eighteen. Plus age of consent in Panem is sixteen and I definitely didn't just make that up.**


	35. LOL Never Mind

**I remembered I had a cool scene for Junie pre-Games and took the excuse to add some more POVs since they're so few and far between for each individual Tribute. Next time tubes for real.**

* * *

Junie Brett

There was a pile of tapes next to me.

The first Hunger Games wasn't useful. No one knew what was going on and it was more like one last Dark Days massacre than a competition. All I could learn from it was that whoever hardened her heart first won.

The second Games taught me how important the Arena was. My own District took that one because a Games in the woods was just normal life to us.

The third Games was all about weapons. If there wasn't an axe for me, I needed to be able to improvise.

The fourth Games was a repeat of the second. Woods meant Seven won. It wasn't always that simple. I had to remember not to take anything for granted.

The fifth Games drove that home. Four never should have won in a desert Arena. The Victor was the best in all Panem, not the best of one biome.

The sixth Games was the start of the Careers. They weren't a problem this time, but it could help me understand Vera better.

Seven, eight, nine. The Careers over and over. Ten broke the pattern with a stroke of luck. Then Careers again, then strength. On and on the Games went, each giving me another element that brought me closer to the complete formula for victory.

* * *

Frankie Disney

I didn't want to lose any of my allies, but why not? I could watch them die and not feel anything. Maybe even Vera- I couldn't know for certain it was any other way. I didn't want them to die because it was wrong. I wanted to not want them to die because I _cared_ for them.

We were all gathered together in the Four lounge, since it was the least crowded. Each of us was preparing in our own ways. We were all chatting and pretending we were equals, but I could see differently. Reiner's first concern was Lyte. He'd never forgiven himself for letting him die the first time. Felix was sitting by himself on one couch. I wondered if he was thinking none of us were more important than Tillo and his son. Vera was next to me not because she was scared and needed me to protect her, or because she couldn't bear to ever be apart from me, but just because she liked me. And I was thinking about all my allies, but not for the reason I wanted.

I was thinking about their value. Vera was first, obviously, and that was the only place I could see any feeling in myself. I put her first because that's where she belonged, not because she was my strongest ally. The others got no such compassion. I profiled them like I was making a list of assets. Reiner was the best trained outside of Vera, but he'd defend Lyte first in any battle. Felix was the most dangerous. Fatherhood changed people. I'd seen it before in Shogo. I could never trust him. After Vera, the most important ally was Lyte. Not because he was a child or because he didn't deserve to die. He was the most valuable. He was a skilled medic and I could be certain he would never betray me.

I wasn't sure of my own value. It was plain I thought highly of myself if I felt qualified to confer value upon my allies. If they were doing the same, they probably valued me lowly because they knew I wasn't attached to them. Vera thought different. We'd find out if she was right.

* * *

Lyra Axelle

Haber wanted us to spend as much time together as possible, but we had to go to bed eventually. Seeing me leave gave Calista enough courage to go next, and we walked together down the hall.

"Lyra?" Calista asked when we'd been walking a while.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Are we friends?" she asked.

"Of course," I said. I didn't know why she was so nervous. _I_ was the spoiled brat no one liked. She had to gather courage again before she went on.

"If I die, I'm glad we were friends," she said. Her eyes were shining and her face was stiff.

"I was just thinking the same thing," I said. Then _I_ was the one gathering courage.

"If you win... would you remember me once in a while?" I asked. It would be nice if someone remembered me for something good.

"What day?" she asked. I said the first thing that came to mind.

"My birthday's November 2nd," I said.

"Mine's May 13th," she said, and the deal was mutual.

When we reached Calista's room, since it came first, we both went in. I was about to be with seventy-three Tributes, most of whom wanted to kill me, but I still didn't want to be alone. We piled onto her bed and rolled up inside the blankets like a cocoon. Just like a sleepover.

* * *

Leo Serrocold

I hated being the weak link. None of my allies said anything, but it was true. Blaise was the only one who wasn't stronger than I was, and he was the youngest so it was expected. I wasn't a burden, but I wasn't an asset, either.

Worst of all, I was mediocre. In the Resurrection Games, it was better to be a joke than boring. I wouldn't win, and they also wouldn't pick me again. Miller and Haber were practically guaranteed immortality even if they botched it every time. I'd just be forgotten.

My thoughts wandered and I mused about who would win. It would be nice if it was an ally. I'd still be dead, but I'd be remembered. They said a man died twice- first when he died, then again when his name was spoken for the last time. I'd already died once and I was about to die again. Guess I proved _that_ one wrong.

We think the Hunger Games are the worst thing ever and there's no one unluckier than a fallen Tribute. But we're not the only ones that die. Even Galba died. She never even saw it coming, or maybe she saw it coming from the start. The Gamemakers think they're in control of life and death and they hand them out at will. They die too in the end. They don't give life and death. They only speed it up for some people. Even in Panem, we're all equal in the end.


	36. Tubes

Peridot Estrella

How did this happen? How did I end up mentoring a girl who didn't like the Games? It was ridiculous! How did One end up sending in a Tribute who didn't like the Games? Ridiculous! And she was _blind!_ I'd never been through anything more ridiculous in my life. I was glad she couldn't see my expression as she went up in the tube.

* * *

Crag Steiner

What a fine mess I'd gotten into. Stuck mentoring a bunch of wimps just so I wouldn't go stir-crazy. Two didn't mix with the other Districts, except sometimes One. Four we tolerated, but they weren't on our level. The others, though... they were just the prey. It was _Pray_ Jager, not _Prey_ Jager. If everyone in Two wasn't terrified of me, they'd laugh me out of the District.

* * *

Acee Hal

Eleven had the best chance by numbers, but Three had a pretty strong group this year. I hardly had to do anything. They all had their plans in place. I expected that if I saw any of them again it would be Emmeline, but I would be glad for any of them if they came back. Three sent in three brains, one set of muscles, and a sense of humor into the Arena. It was one complete person. Maybe part of it would come back.

* * *

Careen Ellis

 _This one hardly counts._

Vera didn't need me to give her a shot of courage or some last-minute advice. She knew the whole drill three times as well as I did. I was there if she needed to know about new developments in Panem, but otherwise I was just twiddling my thumbs. She waved politely as she rose away and I shrugged in uncertain response.

 _Okay next time for real._

* * *

Erwin Jackson

The only Tribute I cared about came from Six. She wasn't here, and I was glad for that. My group handled the whole situation with dignity, for which I was grateful. Logan and Sevarian could go to blazes for all I cared. Kerry and Daniel were dead already and there was no use crying over it.

Gabriel was the biggest trouble. I avoided him all I could from the second he came back. He was cheerful and friendly and never let me drag him down. If I wasn't careful I'd get attached to him.

* * *

Pray Jager

I should have picked Nine instead. My unwilling students were all going down in the Bloodbath. It was no great loss. The strong survive and let the weak fall away. They shouldn't have brought them back in the first place.

Screw Lyte though. Who did he think he was talking to me like that? Wretched little medic. I wished he was stronger so I could kick his ass.

* * *

Sequioa Wilson

I lucked out this year. I had four of the strongest Tributes in the Games. I didn't have a single girl who didn't have a chance to win.

Three of them were allies. They'd made good choices, but I worried for them. They were three very strong girls fighting for the same thing. For their sake, I hoped they weren't friends.

* * *

Tillo Peters

I don't have much of a sense of humor. By the time I read the rulebook myself and found out laughing wasn't a sin, it was too late. But the opportunity was just so golden and the moment was just right. Maybe the sight of all my Tributes in the tubes, Alice hugging the stuffed deer that boy somehow managed to get after all, hit me just right.

"May the best man win," I said to Haber. For Alice's sake, and maybe the last ghostly remnants of my father, I didn't follow it up with the right gesture as Haber's red face rose out of sight.

* * *

Bambi Kirkland

I wanted to be with Velvet, but I had my duties. I'd barely spent any time with my own Tributes. It was hardly neglect when there were a dozen Careers fighting to get their hands on them.

They seemed like a nice bunch. I'd been scared of Castiel from the start. He was so spiritual. There was no creed that condoned what I did. I hoped he wouldn't watch my Games, and from the way he treated me, either he hadn't or he took forgiveness even more seriously than I thought. I was more relieved than anything else when they were gone.

* * *

Pepper Wilson

Eleven had two other Victors. They didn't need me to be there. So I wasn't.

I never would have imagined it would come to this. I was Pepper Wilson, the girl who defied the Careers and made it out alive. I taunted the Capitol at every chance and I'd been inches from execution multiple times. But here I was, about to be what they wanted every Victor to become.

The Careers had taken over Six, leaving Toby and his friend to their own devices. Naturally, that meant morphling. There was a lot I didn't know about Morphlings. Now I knew they were always willing to share.

* * *

Nubu Sanders

I didn't want to be standing safe on the ground. I wanted to scootch Chase out of the tube and go in instead. Or any of them- Chase just came to mind first because he was the smallest. If I thought it would make a difference I would have smashed the glass. I'd rather be dead than unable to help.


	37. Countdown

Gizmo Torrens

I looked up the tube, but there was only darkness. I knew from last time that I should have been able to see the sun by now. The only solution was that the sun wasn't there. I'd never heard of a Games starting at night before. But this was no ordinary Games.

* * *

Serena Hyland

 _This is no place for a very small and timid girl._

The Games hadn't started, but I couldn't have been more scared. My skin prickled with goosebumps, both from fear and the cool air around me. I was surrounded by graves. Some of them were open.

* * *

Vera Busattil

I was a Career. I was still scared.

We were in a graveyard. There was nothing blocking my view, and I still couldn't see the end of the rows of headstones. Mausoleums were scattered among the simpler markers. At least seeing a Cornucopia would be something familiar, but there wasn't even that. Instead there were two statues facing each other. They were some sort of freaky angels with their arms over their heads and their hands clawed. They were glaring down at the ground between them and their tongues were out. Anyone who wanted supplies had to run right between them. I didn't know if I was brave enough.

* * *

Jay Dallas

It should have looked more familiar. We'd all been here before. I tried not to look at the Arena and to focus on finding my allies. It was so dark it was hard to tell who was on any of the pedestals. Only the statues were lit by a full moon shining through the only hole in the clouds. Of _course_ it was a full moon. It would probably be full the whole time.

The timer started. After five seconds, there was an explosion.

* * *

Miller Thresher

Did it have to start so early in the morning? We couldn't even _see_ anything it was do dark out. Couldn't they let us sleep in one last time? I was barely awake as the timer started. It was taking forever. I leaned over as I waited.

* * *

Gabriel Farad

 _48, 47, 46..._

I looked down for an instant and my heart froze all over again. Everyone was looking in the same direction, away from the timer, and most of them were screaming. My head snapped over to see what it was. I expected a mutt charging straight at us. It wasn't much better. There was an empty platform. The air above it was moving. I thought it was birds. It was chunks.

* * *

Silver Flower

There were so many of them. I was only two platforms away. I could see the pieces falling on Miller's- it had to be Miller, no one else had that many chunks- neighbors. Frankie just brushed them off, but Hadley was kneeling over the edge of her platform heaving. I hoped the vomit didn't set off the explosives.

 _45, 44, 43..._

* * *

Asper Fin

 _We're already in a graveyard. They don't even have to bury him. They_ won't _bury him. No hovercrafts this time. We'll lie where we fall. The living can scramble over the dead. They're all dead here. We're trespassers._

 _40, 39, 38..._

* * *

Vextrix Webb

They left no stone unturned. The ground around the platforms swirled with wisps of fog. Behind me, outside the circle of platforms, I saw an iron gate set into a brick wall that lead off into the distance. The wall was too high to see over. It looked like an exit, but I knew none of us would try to use it. I didn't want to know what was outside that wall.

Ravens flew around overhead. A chain rattled in the nearest mausoleum. Somewhere far in the distance, a man screamed. An owl called. It might just have been black and white everywhere, but it was worse. Some of the graves had flowers.

 _33, 32, 31..._

* * *

Castiel Wickham

There were crosses everywhere. I was in the only place in Panem where I could still see a cross.

 _29, 28, 27..._

* * *

Alice Silvin

 _Mommy. Let me leave._

I crouched on the platform and clung to my deer. You never went in a graveyard after dark. Things lived in graveyards, especially after dark. Things like the creatures in the middle of the circle. They were pretending to be angels, but angels weren't scary. There were real angels here. I tried to find one.

One of the angels was four platforms away from me. The angel was scared too.

 _24, 23, 22..._

* * *

Apollo Wilson

 _It's so dark here. I blend right in._

 _18, 17, 16..._

* * *

Emmeline Blythe

There would still be more tricks. This wasn't it. I didn't watch the Cornucopia statues as the timer ticked down. I watched outside the circle. Something was going to come for us. I alternated watching the perimeter and the skies. Then I had to add another direction. They might come from below.

 _10, 9, 8..._

* * *

Pandora Sent

There wasn't very good lighting. For me, it was pitch black. The air was cold. Maybe we were on a mountain? There was no snow in the air. It smelled like dirt and mildew. Were we in an abandoned garden? The only thing I could see were the brightly lit statues.

Someone stepped off the platform early. I heard the explosion and the reactions. I tried to pick out my allies' voices. I hoped I wasn't near Beth or her friends. The gong sounded. I was about to find out.

* * *

 **Happy Halloween.**


	38. Bloodbath

Inky Balboa

The instant the gong sounded, the sky darkened even more. Shadowy figures appeared from all directions and converged on the circle of platforms so quickly I was hardly on the ground before I could distinguish them. They were horrible things with wings and shark mouth and dangling tentacles. I already knew I wasn't going to run into the Bloodbath. They just made me run faster.

* * *

Electra Magneta

There was nothing between the statues that could make me run closer. But running away didn't guarantee safety either. The air was full of grabbing tentacles and other Tributes clogged the escape paths. It was all a matter of luck.

As I ran, I wondered about the one thing I could have used from the supplies. What were we supposed to eat in here? I shuddered at the only possibility I could imagine. But they didn't like it when Titus did that.

* * *

Ryker Merlin

It didn't matter how fast I could run. They were everywhere. There was nowhere _to_ run. The nearest mausoleum was impossibly far away when there was a sea of tentacles in the way. One of the mutts wrapped itself around me like a clump of leeches. I thought it would carry me away, but it started feeding right there on the ground where I fell. Someone tripped over us as it ate. I was glad I wouldn't be in the Arena for longer.

* * *

Mindi Hostler

 _Ew ew ew_ EW!

The tentacles were gross and _slimy!_ I shrieked and batted at the nasty stinky things. The mutt hissed at me and pulled me closer with shorter, less slimy, but still gross tentacles.

Stupid Gamemakers. Nobody would win the Games at this rate.

* * *

Daniel Mondins

It was all very familiar. I saw a mutt aiming for Sarla and tackled it out of the air. She tried to pull it off me and I kicked her away so hard she fell roughly to the ground. I felt terrible about it right away, and I hoped she'd forgive me. I just wanted to get her farther away from the teeth that were already tearing into me.

* * *

Sevarian Vask

I stuck close to the girl on the platform next to me. If one of the mutts gunned for me I could shove her in the way instead. One of them turned in the air and aimed at us. I was about to go through with my plan when she hit the deck. It was too late to run after that.

* * *

Hadley Kinneth

I was too scared to be happy the mutt ate Sevarian, but I had enough energy for one thought.

 _Well screw you too, dickbag._

* * *

Cooper Woodson

It was like the Reaping all over again. It didn't make any sense who died in the Bloodbath. It was whoever the mutts happened to see first. I tried to keep low and blend in.

I got lucky. The Mutt lottery passed me over. There were also a few Tributes still collected enough to kill. Including Jason. I didn't win that lottery.

* * *

Vera Busattil

One of the mutts came straight at me. I sliced its head off with a sword from between the statues. It should have picked more carefully. I was a Career. I dealt with mutts every day. I'd been training longer than it had been alive- which really wasn't that long, but that was beside the point. It was really a letdown after the Camazotz.

* * *

Azalea Meadows

People were dying in piles all around me. It was all right to have a few less to worry about, but I wanted a piece of the action. I grabbed a sword and looked around for my first target. I saw Vera and got a wonderful, awful idea. I could get rid of my biggest threat right in the first chaotic minutes of the game.

I ran up behind her. She pivoted and ran me through without even moving her feet. She must have had the same idea first.

* * *

Lisbeth Miller

I was clinging to the edge of the platform as the mutt tried to drag me into the air by the leg. It kept wrapping more and more tentacles around me, and the strain was getting unbearable. I saw my ally in the chaos.

"Burgundy! Help!" I called out. He saw me and hesitated. He took a step forward, but he was too slow. My hands slipped from the platform. He betrayed me before I even got a chance to.

* * *

Leo Serrocold

We were definitely going to need supplies in an Arena like this. Jay, Austin, and Zach were already between the statues in a circle, guarding each other as they took supplies. I saw a first aid kit on the edge of the pile and darted in.

"You're gonna need that," someone said as I picked it up. I turned as Beth stuck her knife into my midsection. She stabbed me again as I fell.

"Lucky you. I don't have enough time to do it right."

* * *

Ree Morning

I already knew I was going to die. I kept my eyes shut as I ran straight out from the platforms, waiting to feel the tentacles around me. But they never came.

When I opened my eyes, I was past the first mausoleum. I hadn't realized there was so much in the Arena. I could hardly see the Cornucopia past the few trees and more ornate graves. There weren't any mutts overhead anymore, but I still dove into the first open grave I saw. It was almost covered by a stone slab. I was skinny enough to wiggle inside, but no one could follow me.

* * *

Rory Harris

It was so much louder than last time. There were the screams, the clash of metal from between the statues, and the hissing of the Mutts. Somehow I still managed to hear a lone owl hoot in the distance. Then air rushed into my ear as a Mutt slammed into my back and hissed in my face.

 _Don't let Gwen watch._ This was even worse than other Games.

* * *

Velvet Tek

So many mutts. They blotted out the moonlight for a second, then scattered so the cameras and audience could see what was happening. One of them picked Lisbeth. One picked Mindi. One picked Hadley, but she convinced it otherwise. All of this I saw over my shoulder as I ran out from the circle.

Still more mutts. One picked Ryker. One picked me.

* * *

Skyler Dacher

I saw Hadley across the circle. There were so many of us I hadn't even known she was there. A Mutt dove toward her and I tried to scream a warning, but she was too quick. I watched the skies and picked my way over closer to her. We could pick up where we left off. She saw me coming and switched directions to get closer.

I reached out to take her hand so we could run away together, but then I was flying. I just got her back and now I was lost again.

* * *

Zinnia Fraser

One of the Mutts took Rory. The killer Tributes must have been really mad. They could hardly aim at someone before a Mutt took them. It was like a bunch of birds eating scattered breadcrumbs.

What was I going to do without Rory? I got on without him last time, but not for long. There was so much to be afraid of in this Arena. But the Mutts solved that problem.

* * *

Mouse Parentii

Alice was going to be so scared. I found her in the crowd and pushed my way through the fleeing Tributes. I grabbed her hand.

"Where do we go?" she asked. Silver said we were supposed to meet on high ground. There _was_ no high ground here. I looked around.

"There!" I said. I pointed to a faraway stone building with a statue on top.

"An angel," she said softly. And not a scary one like between the platforms. Silver would know where to look for us: by the _real_ angel.

* * *

 **74th place: Miller Thresher- fell off platform and sploded**

 **Much as we deride Miller, he serves a very noble purpose. Nobody wants their Tribute to die first. Even Miller's submitter wanted him in last place. Thanks to him, no one else has to be. We salute you, our heavyweight hero. Since it's nigh impossible to remember original submitters and resubmitters for 74 people, thanks are generic this time.**

 **73rd place: Mindi Hostler- eaten by nightflyer**

 **Tinks helpfully sent in the idea for Nightflyers. I have lots more Mutts lined up but nightflyers worked well for the initial Bloodbath assault. Mindi's POV came later but she's nasty so I put her as second dead, to no one's dismay. Thank you Mindi for being so nasty we don't feel bad when you die.**

 **72nd place: Ryker Merlin- Nightflyer**

 **Deaths in my stories often go in a similar order to Tribute strength, but I don't dictate order by that specifically. A strong Tribute might up and get brain-eating amoebas. Nightflyers are strong enough to eat just about anyone, so this Arena was a dice roll. I did also use it to clean out people who weren't going to win so there weren't so many people to keep track of. Ryker was a cool guy, but he wasn't first of 74.**

 **71st place: Daniel Mondins- Nightflyer**

 **Daniel's so static. I tried to give him somthing with his description of why he's so protective, but there isn't much there. If I get him again I'll do something crazy with him, but this time I wanted to see Sarla on her own after all she's learned.**

 **70th place: Sevarian Vask- Nightflyer**

 **Sevarian's submitter called him, I think it was, a "git" in one review. Which is true. He lived like a git and died like a git. He would have gotten himself killed trying to stab someone in the back no matter what, so I did it here. It's good to have a few gits though. Not everyone is nice.**

 **69th place: Cooper Woodson- Shot with arrow by Jason**

 **No use beating around the bush. I know Jayman sent in a ton of Tributes hoping for better chances, which is fine. I also know he prefers Jay first, so no use having anyone else he sent win. I trimmed the fat off his herd so I can focus more on people he cares about. I wanted the Tributes to make _some_ kills so Jason did it.**

 **68th place: Azalea Meadows- Stabbed by Vera**

 **I didn't want anyone who died in the Bloodbath their first time to it again. Azalea was the exception. Not because I hate her- it just made sense she'd go charging in again trying for action and pick a fight she couldn't win. There was literally _one_ Career in the Arena and Azalea took her on. Fail.**

 **67th place: Lisbeth Miller- Nightflyer**

 **Lisbeth fancied herself a master manipulator. Burgundy was a bad choice for an ally since he'd been burned by women in the past. And you can't sweet-talk a Nightflyer, so her plan went to pot.**

 **66th place: Leo Serrocold- Stabbed by Beth**

 **More weak links from the Jaymen. Leo was the only one without a clear personality. You might have noticed he was more nebulous pre-Games. So naturally I killed him because with 74 people, I don't have time for boring Tributes. Beth was bound to kill someone, so he filled her quota.**

 **65th place: Rory Harris- Nightflyer**

 **There's not much to say here. Rory's chances were almost nil since he's nice, there's 74 people, and he doesn't have any particular Victor skills. I had to get the numbers down because 74 people just blur. He didn't let the Capitol change him, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.**

 **64th place: Velvet Tek- Nightflyer**

 **Velvet was always dynamic and full of life. I mainly killed her to show it can happen to anyone. Boring or exciting, the Games don't care. Next time might be different.**

 **63rd place: Skyler Dacher- Nightflyer**

 **Skyler and Hadley thought the other wasn't there because I managed to forget both of them were there while writing the other and only noticed after a few chapters. Real nice. So I went with it and acted like I meant it all along. I didn't have requests from their submitters to make them ally, and the only way that made sense was if one died. Skyler was weaker so I picked her.**

 **62nd place: Zinnia Fraser- Nightflyer**

 **Zinnia and Alinta were made by the same person. They're not copies or anything, but it made sense to weed one out. I like Alinta more so I picked her. It would have been cool if they allied, but the submitter probably thought they would just fade together in that case. Alinta made it to third in a voting Games. Let's see how she does now.**

 **Sorry to disappoint, but those are literally just creepy statues. They look like Weeping Angels, but they're just statues. They don't move or snatch you up or fire lasers like in The Neverending Story. Just statues. Sorry. Also the gate is the boundary to the Arena. Usually the Cornucopia's in the middle but it looked cooler to have the Bloodbath at the cemetery gates. If the Tributes tried to get over it, it would zap them or something. It looks more obvious from the Arena and the Tributes can tell it's the boundary and they shouldn't try to cross.**


	39. Slasher

**Now that it won't interrupt the flow of an important chapter, I can answer a question about Lyte. He wanted to be a doctor before his first Games and was already studying even though he wasn't in actual medical school. After two Games he's gotten good at it.**

* * *

River Summers

I didn't even have to worry about killing anyone. The mutts were taking care of that. When the gong went off, I was more scared than I'd ever been. I wanted to run the opposite way, but fear was something to spur me on, not turn me back. I ran straight for the statues, taking a pack as I went through them. Ever was there too, trying to find a weapon. I thought about Junie and yanked a first aid kit from Leo's hand as he died. Ever took something and we fled before things got any worse. Junie found us at the far edge of the platforms. An arrow flew next to my head as we ran.

By the time the cannons started, we had slowed down. We'd passed by a few buildings, but I didn't want to stop so close to the Cornucopia. We weaved around them so nobody could shoot at us and kept moving deeper into the cemetery. I thought for sure it must stop eventually and lead into something else, but the graves just kept coming.

Away from the mutts blocking the moon I could see all the different types of markers, but there was no time to look at them. We passed by more of the stone buildings.

"We could stay in one of those," Ever said. I shook my head.

"I think we should keep going. There's nowhere safe here," I said. We had to get as far away from the others as possible. There were more than fifty other Tributes looking to kill us, and they weren't the only things in the Arena. There was other things wandering between the stones. Things that weren't as human.

* * *

Jake Diaz

"Why couldn't it be something normal? This is just sick."

There was a lot more to be sick about. I didn't want to bring the alliance down, but there was n getting around it. Only five of us found each other. Jay and Zach saw Beth kill Leo. None of us had seen Cooper, Blaise, or DeMarcus. We'd heard a lot of cannons, though.

At least the mutts were gone. They cleared out as soon as the Tributes were scattered. The Gamemakers were impatient. They didn't want to wait for seventy-four children to die, even when they were the ones that picked them. They sent mutts to thin the herd, but they stopped when they'd had their fill.

We didn't want to stop moving. Then we'd have to think about what happened. Walking made it easier to ignore. For some of us, at least. Austin was openly crying. Logan's fists were clenched and he glared at the ground, no doubt thinking about the brother he couldn't find.

I didn't hold out much hope. Blaise was our smallest member and DeMarcus wouldn't leave him unless he was dead too. We weren't off to a great start.

* * *

Anise Haeffele

"Where is everyone?"

A lot of us found each other in the Bloodbath, but there were still so many missing. Addie, Silver, Tawny, Peach and Inky were accounted for. Ree, Mouse, Alice, and Chase were somewhere out in the dark, gloomy Arena.

The rest of us were huddled behind one of the pillars studded into the wall around the graveyard. It was wide enough that we could hide behind it and get out of sight, and we were far enough from the Bloodbath that we couldn't see the angel statues. Silver was keeping watch to make sure no one saw us.

"We should go find them," Peach said. She and Addie were the only ones who'd gone in to get supplies. Peach had wanted a pitchfork, which seemed appropriate in this infernal Arena, but the Gamemakers opted for a scythe instead with their usual tastefulness and tact. Addie, brave as she was, didn't want to spend a second longer than necessary near the mutts, so she'd run to the statues and grabbed the first two bags she could. That added a dagger, a full canteen, a loaf of bread, a blanket, and a roll of tape to our supplies.

"It's too dangerous to go out there," Inky said.

"It will always be dangerous. If we don't find them now we never will," I said. Peach lead the way. The rest of us followed her like the natural leader she was. Silver took up the rear and watched our backs. It was so dark and so deadly I didn't hold out much hope for the stragglers. But when I saw the serene angel, so out of place among the rest of the Arena statues, I knew where we'd find two of them if we found them at all.

* * *

Chase Enders

One of the stone buildings had a flickering light inside it, but I didn't go there. In this Arena, light was something to be afraid of. I wanted to find the others, but I knew I had to wait until the mutts were gone and the killers were more spread out. I was afraid the last of the flying things might still be looking for a meal, so I hid in a dark mausoleum. The stone was cold and the floor was damp.

I should have kept going. When I heard voices getting closer, it was too late to run. I could only scrunch into the corner and hope they wouldn't look inside. But of course they were making a sweep of all the nearby shelters. It could only be Beth and her allies.

They didn't have to be afraid as they swept inside. Vera's alliance wouldn't camp so near the Cornucopia. Anyone else they didn't have to be afraid of. Beth smiled when she saw me. She stood over me in the corner.

"I have more time now," she said. "I'll do it properly this time." She didn't though. I must have squirmed too much. I bled out before she could get really into it.

* * *

 **61st place: Chase Enders- stabbed by Beth**

 **I forgot to kill Chase in the Bloodbath. I have now corrected my mistake. I _am_ sorry about it, though. I liked Chase. But I can't be merciful if I'm going to write SYOTs. I've already killed about 300 Tributes. One more is hardly a speck on my conscience.**


	40. Video Nasty

Arden Grake

What a lovely Arena. It was simply bursting with life. How very accommodating of the Gamemakers to put us in a cemetery. It would save me a trip.

I only wished there was more cover. I couldn't see anyone else in the distance, but I wished I _couldn't_ see so far. If someone came by I'd have to hide behind a bug gravestone and hope for the best. There were the houses every now and then, but I was sure they'd be commandeered by the more powerful alliances before long.

I was going to have to be more creative. There was nothing around to build a shelter with other than a few thin trees. Around here, a shelter would only attract attention. It wasn't really a necessity, since the air was only cool, not cold. I didn't think the sun was going to rise anytime soon.

I didn't need a shelter so much as a hiding place. Beth's gang would be sweeping the Arena now, looking for anyone who didn't get hidden in time. My options were limited and nearly universally disgusting. I saw an open grave and bent nearer out of curiosity.

 _Lattice Granger_

 _Dark Days_

 _Vicit Mortem_

I didn't know if she was real or not. Probably they just wanted to spook us. I moved on and tried to find a less obvious choice.

I knew what I had to do as soon as I saw a half-open coffin standing up in the bottom of an open grave. There was a desiccated hand sticking out of it. I regarded the gory sight with resigned disgust.

I leaned over and grabbed the arm. In this Arena I half-expected it to grab me back, but it stayed still and cold. I braced it on the edge of the coffin and snapped it off. It cracked like a twig and little bits of dried flesh flaked off it. I took my nasty prize and found another grave with a coffin, this one empty. I pushed the coffin around until the open side faced the bottom and crawled inside. I stuck the arm in the crack and closed the coffin around it and me. No one would want to get close enough to examine that gross thing. I didn't want to be close to it either.

* * *

Beth O'Darielle

I screwed up. Chase died before I was hardly started. Merle was crying all over the place and Torchy kept consoling her like a perfect, syrupy gentleman. It was all very revolting.

"What's your problem? _You're_ the one who wanted into the alliance," I said.

"You didn't have to do that! You killed him," Merle said. Torchy stood aside awkwardly.

" _Yeah_ I killed him! That's what I do, bonehead!" I said. "Get the picture yet?"

"Screw off," Torchy said. "Go gut someone else, all right?"

"What's the matter, lover boy? Getting attached to the prey?" I asked. He blushed.

"Maybe I want some fun first. You do it your way, I'll do it mine," I said.

"So take her for a spin and finish it," I said. Merle looked at me with horror. She started to back away. I could tell she was about to run. It was plain Torchy wasn't going to get anything done. I took out a knife. I had to do _everything._

"Leave her alone!" Torchy said suddenly. He jumped between us and held up his machete. I'd have made a big stink if I cared.

"Whatever. If you're going to be like that, just go. We'll find you anyway," I said. Torchy watched me over his shoulder as he and Merle retreated.

"It's you and me now, Jack," I said to my last ally. He looked as unperturbed as ever. _I,_ on the other hand, was itching for some action. Torchy said I should go gut someone. I could handle that.

* * *

Ree Morning

I wondered if the rest of the alliance was together yet. Some of us had to be dead already. We were the weakest alliance. It was practically a requirement for membership. I hunkered in my grave and listened to the noises in the night. There were occasional screams that didn't sound like anyone I knew, as well as hooting owls and ghostly wails.

I thought it was a ghost when I saw a light over the edge of the grave. When I heard someone talking, I knew two things. First, it was a Tribute. Second, it was one of the ones willing to kill. She was using a flashlight because she had nothing to be afraid of. I could only hope she didn't find me.

The footsteps got closer. Beth peeked over the edge of my grave and pointed her flashlight at me.

"Hey," she said. "You know intestines are long enough to hang someone with?"

 _It really_ is _my grave,_ I thought. And I was right about my alliance. I was glad Beth found me and not them, and I was glad I didn't lead her to them. I was an easy target, but Beth would get what was coming to her. Junie could beat her easy. I hoped she did.

* * *

Haber Dasher

Girls knew how to get things done. We'd all found each other in the Bloodbath and we'd even gotten some supplies. We had this in the bag.

We were a strong enough alliance to claim one of the stone houses for ourselves. They would be easy to fortify and defend, since they didn't have any windows and they only had one door each. We chose one far away from the Bloodbath, just in case. Emmalie and Calista set about clearing out bits of rock and rubble as Lyra and I sorted the supplies and readied our weapons.

I wasn't scared when I saw someone through the door. I couldn't tell who it was right away. We didn't have to be afraid of anyone, and it might have been a girl who needed help. When it got closer and I saw it was a man, I took action. I took up my sword and went out to give him a piece of my mind.

"Hey! Get out of here! This building's taken," I said. When he didn't move, I went closer and swung my sword in a warning. "Who do you think you-"

The intruder never said anything. He punched his machete through my middle with more force than I thought possible. I gasped and toppled forward to the ground as he yanked it out. He started to step over me and I grabbed his legs. I might be dead, but my sisters could still get away.

* * *

Emmalie Bluebell

We all shrank together when we saw Haber fall. I'm sure none of us were surprised she got herself killed, but it was all very sudden. Whoever did it was just outside our building. By the time I got up, Jack was too close for me to get past. He stood in the door, blocking our only exit.

I picked up the nearest object, a backpack, and swung it at Jack's head. He took the blow and stepped into the building. There was hardly enough room to maneuver around him. If the three of us had taken weapons at the Bloodbath, we would have been able to take him. But Haber was the fighter. Lyra used arrows, but we were way too close for that. I was a thief and Calista was just sort of useless.

Jack grabbed me by the shirt and dangled me off the ground. He stabbed me in my torso and I heard the machete clang on the stone wall behind me. I should have left Haber sooner.

* * *

Calista Corral

I wanted to be a useful ally, but two of my allies had already died in front of me and there was nothing I could do. Jack dropped Emmalie and turned back to me and Lyra as we huddled against the far wall of the stone building. He stepped closer and I knew I had to do _something._ I threw a rock at him. He swatted me with his free arm and I stumbled closer to the door. I picked up another rock and was about to throw it when I heard Lyra's scream. I couldn't see her, since Jack was in the way, but the cannon told me all I needed to know. I was too late. All I could do was run. I scuttled out the door while Jack's back was still turned.

* * *

Lyra Axelle

It was like fish in a barrel. Emmalie was barely dead when Jack dropped her and turned his attention to me and Calista. There was no way I could get to my bow and fire off an arrow before he got to us. I didn't even have time to pick up the bow. Calista did all she could, and I was surprised she was so brave. When Jack hit her, I thought she would fly into the opposite wall and smash her head. But he was just a Tribute, not a behemoth. I saw Calista moving as Jack raised his machete. I hoped she got out.

* * *

 **60th place: Ree Morning- killed messily by Beth**

 **I didn't think I should leave the Little Child alliance without heavy casualties. It was a collection of the weakest, youngest Tributes in the Games. Ree was separated and those are the ones that die in the wild. I liked Ree because she was optimistic and she didn't give up, but I let her go because it was inevitable. Beth will be killing in more detail in the future, but this time I left it vague to be nice.**

 **59th place: Haber Dasher- stabbed by Jack**

 **I wanted the first night to have a lot of death because it made sense when the Tributes weren't familiar with the Arena yet and Beth and her allies were marauding. Haber was a logical place to start because she has zero survival instincts. In this, her third time, she actually developed a bit. I never would have expected that. She was still nasty, but she _does_ care for her friends. She just thinks you have to have boobs to be a friend. So rest in peace and this time I'm maybe a little sorry to see her go.**

 **58th place: Emmalie Bluebell- stabbed by Jack**

 **When I realized Haber's alliance was in a small enclosure, I saw that it was ripe for a massacre. Emmalie was going to abandon the alliance soon, but she wasn't quick enough. A thief would do well in some Arenas, but this one wasn't so great for Emmalie. I don't think she was many people's favorite anyway. She never had much chance of winning.**

 **57th place: Lyra Axelle- stabbed by Jack**

 **Lyra could have been a great defender for the building if she could have fought from a long distance. In such short range her arrows weren't very useful, and she wasn't a hand-to-hand fighter. Jack was way bigger than she was and machetes are bad news. I picked one person to live because I didn't want to give Jack too many kills at once. Calista was Lyra's friend, and she's going to miss her.**


	41. First Cannons

**Skyler Dacher-** Hadley Kinneth

I should have found her earlier. We could have been allies. I'd already watched her die once, and then I had to do it again. I didn't have to be alone in this horrible ghostly Arena. If she was here, it wouldn't seem so hopeless.

* * *

 **Daniel Mondins**

He did everything he could for me. I couldn't lean on him forever. It was time to stand on my own.

* * *

 **Sevarian Vask-** Elara Angelo

That punk from Five went, did he? Served him right. He was itching for a chance to stab someone in the back.

* * *

 **Lyra Axelle-** Calista Corral

I was supposed to be part of something great. We were supposed to take care of each other. All my allies were dead in a minute and I ran like a coward. I was a deserter. I never deserved to be in that army.

* * *

 **Velvet Tek-** Addie Child

She was from my District. It was so long ago. I didn't even know her. She was just a story- just another statistic from a bygone Games. Now I could see how she felt.

* * *

 **Ree Morning-** Anise Haeffele

We tried to find them. We found Mouse and Alice by the angel. We found Ree in the sky. I knew we wouldn't be able to save them all.

* * *

 **Miller Thresher-** Beth O'Darielle

I wished I'd gotten to him first. I could have seen how much he weighed without all that fat.

* * *

 **Cooper Woodson-** Jay Dallas

I didn't have anything to say for Cooper. He was the one with a way with words. All I had was what was written on the stones around me. _Rest in peace._

* * *

 **Lisbeth Miller-** Burgundy Lumineer

I was relieved the Mutt took her. Even the best of allies was nothing but trouble in the end. Now we didn't have to split apart.

* * *

 **Rory Harris-** Silver Flower

I hardly knew Rory, but I felt I might understand him. I saw him with his ally and knew he wasn't getting anything out of the arrangement. He wanted to keep her safe. That was something I knew about.

* * *

 **Zinnia Fraser-** Alinta Fintan

It could have been me just as easily. We were the same age and the same size. It was just chance that she got taken and I didn't. The odds were in my favor... this time.

* * *

 **Leo Serrocold-** Blaise Wesley

Leo was such a cool guy. All my other allies were learning to fight and he focused on being able to take care f us. We weren't complete without him.

* * *

 **Chase Enders-** Peach Unk

The Capitol must been very proud. They removed a very dangerous rebel element when they killed Chase. He probably would have blown up the president if they hadn't taken care of him. He was such a troublemaker.

* * *

 **Mindi Hostler-** Tawny Stallyon

That girl said she was going to win easy. She must have been wrong.


	42. Blood Feast

**Haber Dasher-** Austin Dallas

 _And nothing of value was lost._

* * *

Wyatt Sparks

We'd made it through the first night. At least it seemed like we had. It was hard to tell what time it was when the moon just sort of wavered and never set. The Anthem went off, so it must have been something like one night.

No one was around, and it seemed like the best thing to do was get to know the Arena better. It should have been darker than it was, since it was night. The moon seemed bigger than it should have been, like the Gamemakers wanted us to have just enough light to see each other and the Arena, but not enough that it was brighter than dusk. Not that there was much to see in any case. Just graves, some open, some closed, some inside buildings. Graves and a few statues. Dominique slowed to read a few. She gasped and pointed at one.

"It's one of us," she said. I stood by her and read the inscription, which was under the symbol for District Two.

 _Margo Caspian_

 _District Two_

 _Cadent in Proelio_

I looked at the next grave over. It was some nobody I'd never heard of. Then I looked over another grave to the one behind it and saw something on the ground. I about jumped out of my skin, since my first thought was a zombie. But it was just a basket.

"What's this?" I asked as I picked it up. There was a skull inside it, but it was covered in rainbow lines and it didn't look like bone. I touched it and my finger came away sticky.

"It's sugar," I said. There were two bottles and a tin of beans next to the skull.

"Why is this here? And who left it?" Dominique asked. I had a suspicion, and it was confirmed when I read the headstone.

 _Antonio Ruiz_

 _District Five_

 _Rest in Peace_

 _"_ It's a calavera," I said.

"What's that?" Dominique asked.

"It's from my ancestors. They used to have a celebration ever year. They called it The Day of the Dead," I said. How very appropriate.

* * *

Castiel Wickham

It was good to be in a strong alliance. We could claim one of the stone tombs as our camp and make it our own. We stayed out on the fringes, since we didn't want to mess with Beth or Vera's alliances, but it was good to know everyone else would leave us alone.

"All right, what's the plan?" Kerry asked. Supplies weren't a problem. Vextrix had a spear and Zetan grabbed some knives. I wasn't willing to use a weapon yet and wasn't sure I ever would in self-defense, but for an ally I might be able to. We had two bottles of water and a sack of potatoes, and shelter wasn't a problem with our tomb.

"I think we should lay low here at least until things are settled and we know the Arena better," Vextrix said.

"Sounds good," Zetan said. "Think we can make a fire for these?" he asked, holding a potato.

"No one's going to bother us. Beth knows we're too tough for now and Vera doesn't want to pick unnecessary battles," I said.

"I'll get some wood," Kerry said.

"Let me go with you just in case," Zetan said. Vextrix and I watched out the door as they kicked in an empty coffin and tore strips of wood from it. There was a box of matches in our pile of supplies, and the wood lit quickly when Kerry struck one.

The fire should have made the tomb less gloomy, but instead it just made the shadows spookier and the night outside darker. Another scream came from deep in the Arena, and then the ground rumbled.

"They're just being creepy. That's not a real guy," Kerry sniffed. I got up and went to the empty stone coffin in the middle of the tomb. Its heavy lid was slanted on top of it, and there was something on it I wanted.

"Think that'll keep the spooks away?" Zetan asked when he saw me pick up the hand-sized wooden cross. The Capitol didn't usually go for things like that. It must have just looked creepy to them.

"Not Beth. It just can't hurt, you know?" I said as I put it in my pocket. It was just window dressing to the Capitol, but it meant a lot more to me.

* * *

Tawny Stallyon

We were still picking our way through the graves the next "morning". I'd taken to reading the epitaphs as we went by. Most were people I'd never heard of. I recognized some names from Games gone by. Some of the stones vibrated as I walked past, but nothing came out. Some of the graves had fresh flowers on them. One bouquet caught my eye.

"Calla lilies are from the order Zantedeschia. They are very hardy and come in a variety of colors," I said to no one in particular. Some of my allies turned curiously. "Calla lilies contain calcium oxalate, a chemical that forms needle-like crystals in internal organs. They are very deadly if eaten. Many flowers contain calcium oxalate, but calla lilies are the deadliest."

"How do you know all that?" Anise asked.

"I know a lot about flowers. Other poisonous flowers include foxglove, oleander, wolvesbane, and poppies. Edible flowers include begonias, carnations, cornflowers, day lilies, lilac, and pansies," I said.

"These are lilies! We can eat these?" Alice asked excitedly as she picked some flowers from off another grave.

"Lilies have a mild vegetable flavor, like lettuce or melon. In large quantities they may act as a diuretic, but they are good in salads and soups," I started. Nobody was listening, though. They were all helping Alice gather the rest of the flowers. I didn't care if they weren't listening. I didn't need anyone to listen when I was talking about flowers.

* * *

Arter Wire

I was exactly where I belonged. The only thing I didn't understand is why there were so many non-dead people in a graveyard. They shouldn't be here. I was glad they were, since it meant I could make things right, but I still resented the intrusion.

I saw one of them bending down by a grave and felt duty call. I was the Reaper. All I needed had already fallen from the sky. The message from the next world carried a black cloak and a scythe. I had to do my job.

I merged with the Arena around me. My cloak blended into the dark night and its soft fabric muffled my steps as I glided among the tombstones. I never wanted to leave. I was home. I only wanted to clear out all the trespassers.

* * *

Celestial Yeager

 _Thank you Juanetta Rojo-Flores._

The grave had a bottle of fruit tea leaned against it. I knew there was no one here to visit the grave, so obviously the offering was from the Gamemakers. In an Arena with no wildlife and no sun for plants, they had to send food artificially. I only hoped it wasn't a trick and "Juanetta" wouldn't pop up and yell at me for taking her tea.

Juanette stayed put. All the same, I took the tea and moved on before I opened it. I didn't want to rub it in.

The shadows shifted all around me as the moon moved in and out of clouds. It seemed to be getting darker, and then I saw it was only one patch that was darker. I squinted at it and saw something was coming toward me. Something glinted in the darkness.

It didn't matter what it was. I didn't want to be near it. I started to run down the row of stones, watching carefully so I didn't trip. I looked behind me and saw the dark spot was matching my speed and getting closer. When it was close enough, I saw it was a boy in a cloak. I wished it was still far enough away that I couldn't tell.

I looked behind me again and I thought the boy was flying. Then I saw he was vaulting from one tombstone to another. He was waving something above his head. It was something metal and shiny. I recognized an image from an old boogeyman legend as he sailed through the air and his scythe swept down and into me. He looked just like the Grim Reaper.

* * *

 **56th place: Celestial Yeager- killed by Arter Wire**

 **Celestial was on her own. In this Arena and with this many hunters, she was lost from the start. I don't want to kill people willy-nilly in droves so fast they blur, but I am trimming the fat a bit faster so we get to a manageable number of Tributes. I always liked Celestial, and she would have won her first Games if I could have made it realistic. There are no cute cuddly mutts in this Arena for her. Maybe next time Dane will be back too.**

 **My apologies to any Hispanic readers for inaccuracies in the portrayal of Day of the Dead traditions. The Capitol wasn't concerned with authenticity.**

 **I'm coloring in each Tribute as they get a POV, so people who haven't had one will get one soon.**


	43. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Sarla Mondins

I'd have to do everything right if I wanted to live. Most importantly, I had to stay hidden. It wasn't hard in such a dark Arena. I didn't even need to hide in one of the tombs. I just found an angel statue with its wings resting against the ground and squeezed into the hollow underneath them.

Water wasn't going to be a problem. Some of the gravestones had grooves in them or they were broken, and water collected in the puddles. When I scooped one out, it refilled slowly. It wasn't natural, but it was clearly from the Gamemakers, and they wouldn't want everyone to drink poison water and die. I didn't know where I was going to get food, but that wasn't a problem just yet.

The first time Daniel died, I thought I was lost. The next time, I died first. This time, I wanted things to be different. I felt older, and I _was_ older, sort of. I knew that no matter how many times we cycled around, Daniel would never win. I wanted to do it for both of us. If he came around again and saw I was a Victor, he wouldn't have to be so worried. He could finally be happy.

* * *

Apollo Wilson

Des was quite the looker. There were two problems, though. First, my heart belonged to Avariella Hanson. Second... I was too much man for Des.

I thought it would be a lot more difficult to take care of Pandora, but she was getting along great. She couldn't see worth beans in normal life, and the Arena made it even worse, but she was keeping up. All the stones made it easy for her to feel her way along, and she could smell most of what was around us. I was surprised she got out of the Bloodbath and worried that she'd get killed the first time we got into a real fight, but she was staying positive.

Pepper hadn't sent us anything. We didn't really need anything, since lots of the graves had water and I grabbed a bag of stuff in the Bloodbath, but it was the principle of the thing. If she wanted to be a big butthead, two could play at that. I wasn't speaking to her until she spoke to me. Or sent me a letter or whatever. We reached another creepy statue and stopped to plan.

"What do you say we pair up and do a little looking around? We can see if there's anyone around or anything we can use," Des said.

"Which of you lovely ladies wants to go with me?" I asked, looking back and forth between Pandora and Emmeline. Electra and Des seemed to be "close".

"Can I just stay here? I don't want to slow anyone down. Just stash me somewhere and come get me when you find a permanent camp," Pandora said.

"Are you sure? We don't want to leave you alone," Electra said.

"You can cover more ground without me. I'll stay safe," Pandora said. It didn't sit right with me. Pandora didn't want to be a burden, but she _wasn't._ She was an ally.

"Let me stay with you and the girls can find a place for us," I said. Pandora assured us she didn't mind, but I stood firm. Three lovely ladies went out into the Arena without me and I stayed behind with the one girl in the Arena who couldn't see how terribly handsome I was.

* * *

Delilah Clementine

I stood watch while Gabriel did his prayers. We couldn't tell what time it was or where east was, but he said Allah was understanding if you tried your best. I never begrudged Gabriel his deafness, but in this Arena, I was glad for it. He didn't have to hear the nasty sounds that emanated from the air.

 _I,_ however, heard all of them, and when I heard someone coming, I pulled Gabriel out of his ritual. He stood up and I pushed him behind a gravestone, pointing around it. He looked and we both saw Beth and Jack prowling among the stones. They were poking around and looking for someone to have fun with. I squeezed up against the stone and Gabriel tugged my hand. He pointed to an open grave two stones down. Before Beth and Jack got closer, we crawled over and pitched ourselves in.

It was so dark in the shadowy grave I could barely see Gabriel lying next to me. I heard the footsteps as Jack and Beth got closer and took his hand. He was cold and horribly clammy. I squeezed his hand and it crumbled into dust.

I knew what I was going to see before I looked over my shoulder. I only wondered why I didn't smell it. I turned and saw the body behind me was so dried-up and mummified it was almost a skeleton with papery brown skin. Its two empty eyes looked back into mine. It was smiling at me with its skinless mouth.

I only stopped myself from screaming by sucking in air and clamping my throat shut. I scooted back and squished Gabriel against the wall of the grave. He twisted around in surprise and saw the body. He dry-heaved and pushed the nasty thing across the grave with one foot. We sat there frozenly staring at it as I listened to the footsteps above us. They paused, then grew quieter in the distance.

The second they were quiet, I launched myself out of the grave and screamed a muffled scream into my shirt. Gabriel pulled himself up after me and we crouched on the other side of the row of stones.

 _That is definitely unclean,_ he said.

* * *

Tariq Bluegrass

Olivier was planning to kill me. I could see it in everything he did. I saw the way he looked at the graves, wondering which one was deep enough to push me into. He offered me the first drink when we found water, so he could see if it was poisoned. He was acting so normal, like I couldn't tell what he was up to. It was sickening.

"It would be pretty surreal if one of us won, wouldn't it?" I asked as we stumbled across a row of stones so decrepit they were falling apart.

"It doesn't even seem possible. It would be a miracle if I won," he said.

"If _you_ won? What about me?" I asked. There he went again, making it all about himself.

"What are you mad about? You _just_ asked," Olivier said.

"I thought you'd think about me too and not just yourself," I said. "I _deserve_ this. Don't you remember what happened last time? You can't imagine what it's like to feel something inside you, bursting to come out."

"What are you even talking about? I just said it would be a miracle if I won!" Olivier said. He was pretending to be all hurt and confused.

"Maybe you're not the only one who needs a miracle," I said.

"Okay, I'm sorry, all right? I hope there's a miracle and we _both_ win. Happy?" he asked. He was trying so hard to look selfless. If he really cared, he would say he hoped _I_ won.

He wasn't the Olivier I allied with the first time around. This time he was calculating and selfish. He was waiting for a chance to double-cross me. Me, the best friend he ever had. And he was the best friend _I_ ever had. Why did he have to become like this? We should have been friends forever


	44. House of Dark Shadows

Ever Fellows

My alliance would likely be together a long time. We might be the last alliance standing if things played out the way I thought they might. Vera's alliance was obviously the strongest. When she made her move, she'd likely aim to break her biggest threat- Beth's gang. Then she'd move on to Apollo and his allies, since they were the next strongest. By the time they got to us, the rest of them might be weak enough to put us on top.

That should have been good, but I was thinking farther ahead. There would come a time eventually, unless one of us died, that we were each others' biggest threats. When that happened, the group dynamics would shift. I was stronger than Junie, but Junie and River were close. If I attacked one, the other would come to the defense. I definitely couldn't take on both of them. They were likely considering the same possibilities, and if it got close to that point, one of them- River, I was sure- might strike preemptively.

There was one route I could take. If I ever got alone with her, I could kill Junie and hope she got taken by the hovercraft before River found the body. But there were so many risks. It would mean killing my ally, which I wasn't sure I could do just because of morals. Then there was the fact that Junie was a valuable medic. If I acted too hastily I'd shoot myself in the foot, but the longer I waited, the more likely one of them was to guessing my thoughts. And if I killed Junie and River suspected, I'd lose an ally at best and be in a fight for my life at the worst. It might have been less dangerous to have weaker allies.

* * *

Felix Veaux

I was the dark horse of the alliance. Everyone wanted to get home, and we were all willing to do things we weren't proud of. But only I still had connections to my old life. I knew Vera and Frankie saw Shogo when they looked at me.

I didn't mention the elephant in the room as we worked on fortifying our mausoleum. Lyte sorted the supplies and the rest of us prepared for the battles we knew were coming. We picked our site because of its proximity to a nearly completely crumbled stone building. We hauled the stones and piled them outside our entrance, making a narrow tunnel that would allow us to cut down intruders long before they got to us. The strength of our alliance meant we could keep a fire blazing in our shelter, and it warmed the stone walls around us.

We were preparing for a battle of epic proportions, and I could feel it drawing closer. The ghostly noises and disturbances in the Arena lead me to believe it would be mutts and not Tributes we first fought, even though we hadn't seen the flying things since the Bloodbath. I wasn't sure we _could_ prepare for what the Arena had in store.

* * *

Zach Connouis

It was all doom and gloom around here. Everyone looked half-dead already.

"So a skeleton walks into a bar," I said as we heated up a can of tomato soup over our fire. "He says 'give me a beer and a mop'."

Jake and Logan laughed. Austin groaned, Blaise looked like he didn't quite get it, and DeMarcus snickered.

"It had to be a skeleton, didn't it?" Austin asked.

"Oh excuse me, cupcake, do you want one that's not so scary?" I said. "What do you get when you cross a dog with a plant? A collie-flower. A beauuuuutiful cauliflower that is not scary at all. Better?"

"Okay, you can tell the skeleton ones. That was worse," Austin said. But even he and Jay were smiling by then. Jay always took himself too seriously. He thought he was the stalwart leader who had to keep on a brave face so his men wouldn't be scared. But we could take care of ourselves. We were big boys. I knew he was taking Logan and Cooper hard, but it was going to happen eventually. He was doing his best. That was all anyone could expect here.

* * *

Pandora Sent

Apollo didn't have to stay with me. I would have been okay by myself.

I was lucky in this Arena. I was used to the dark. And the Arena was full of other senses. I could smell dirt and water and dust and death, which was more than I wanted. I could hear Apollo wandering around reading headstones and gathering the food by some of them. I could tell when I was by a building because I felt the wind stop. I wanted to know more, and I started to poke around, stopping every few minutes to listen for Apollo.

I didn't know what drew me to the nearby mausoleum at first. When I got closer, I heard a noise coming from inside it. It was rhythmic and steady, like a drum. I couldn't imagine what would make a noise like that, and my curiosity welled up right away. Apollo was just a few rows away. He'd come if it turned out to be another Tribute or a mutt.

When I got close enough that even I could see it, I saw the mausoleum had one main room and then another one farther in, making it twice as big as the others. I could feel a stone door we could close to keep out intruders. It would just look like an empty building to them.

The noise got louder when I went inside. It sounded like a heartbeat, but there was nothing there. There was no heat from a living thing, and I couldn't smell anything. If something had been in there it already would have attacked me. It must have been a Gamemaker trick. I felt my way along the porous stone walls into the inner room.

There was a stone coffin on a table in the middle of the room. The noise was coming from inside, but when I nudged the coffin top, it moved. If I could move it, so could anything inside. So what was making the noise? I pushed the lid off and peeked inside.

I was glad I couldn't see what grabbed me by the throat and pulled me up against the coffin on my stomach. It was enough that I could smell that it was musty and faintly rotten. I could feel how cold its hand was on my skin and I heard that the heartbeat had stopped. I felt teeth on my neck and then the hand was warm. I knew what I'd found. I didn't want to see it.

* * *

 **55th place: Pandora Sent- bit by a vampire**

 **A lot of people were surprised Pandora didn't die in the Bloodbath, which is perfectly reasonable, since she's legally blind. This is why. Her form said her curiosity would kill her and maybe unleash a Pandora's Box on the Arena. That was completely perfect for exactly this situation. I didn't kill her so I could save her for this death. Pandora might never have been able to win, but I liked her anyway. She worked with her limitations and perceived the Arena in a totally new way.**

 **You might have noticed by now I'm matching chapter names with horror films that match chapter events. This one is named that because you can actually see exactly what it looked like when Pandora opened that coffin (except Pandora's a chick and it's a guy in the movie) in either the movie House of Dark Shadows or episode 210 of the original show. I say that in full disclosure for both visual aid and so I don't claim credit for something I ripped off. The vampire does look different, though, since I didn't want to be a total thief.**


	45. Horror of Dracula

Peridot Estrella

At least she died hard. I'd have thought Pandora would run into a tree and knock her own brains out. Finding a vampire was a cool way to go. And he was going to get more of them, so indirectly, she actually _did_ kill some people. Well done for a blind girl.

District One

Pandora died so long ago we had mostly healed. When she came back, we didn't get our hopes up. We were glad while it lasted, and we went back to life when it was over.

* * *

Torchy Conden

I done goofed. I had an in with the biggest threats in the Games and I threw it away for a girl. I wasn't even in love with her or anything. I just didn't want Beth to kill her. Now we were both going to die.

Some of the graves had stuff on them, which was nice. Some of it was stupid, like the string of pearls on one kid's grave, but lots of times it was food. Some of the stones had joke epitaphs on them, and I'd taken t reading them.

 _Played five aces, now I'm playing the harp,_ one read.

 _Here lies the body of poor old Fred. A great big rock fell on his head,_ said another.

The next one had the symbol for District Nine on it.

 _Farlon Harlon_

 _25_ _th_ _Hunger Games_

 _Inferno_

"Hey, I killed that guy!" I said, pointing out the name to Merle. She wasn't impressed. She reacted a lot more violently when the dirt erupted under me and Farlon lurched forward from the ground trying to get his arms around me. I screamed like a girl and scooted back away from his rotted, peeling remains. Merle pulled me backwards and I got to my feet. As we both ran from it, I saw he still had my machete in his chest.

* * *

Austin Dallas

Someone screamed again. It didn't sound like the same guy this time. Another one joined it. This one was a girl. This time, it sounded like it was actually Tributes. I hoped it didn't mean Beth was nearby.

A bat flew overhead. I thought it was a bird at first, but its wings were going too fast. I heard them flapping like wisps in the dark. A plume of smoke rose from a grave in the distance. It spread through the air and make strange shapes.

I heard something like metal dragging across stone. I turned to Logan and DeMarcus, who were watching the camp with me while the others did reconnaissance. They'd heard it too.

"What's that?" I asked. The sound was coming closer, but I couldn't see anything. I could hear the metal clink on each gravestone as the sound got closer, but there was nothing there. The three of us lined up defensively by the entry to our shelter and looked out.

When the sound got close enough, I could see the grass shift as something invisible stepped on it. I recognized the clanking sound. It was chains sliding across each other and the ground. With each footstep, there was a jangle of metal. Then there was a groan, low and deep and pained. It reverberated around the shelter and in my chest.

"That ain't right. How we supposed to fight a ghost?" Logan said. I got ready to try. The noise kept coming until it was just feet away from us. The temperature plummeted and the hair on my arms stood up. It screamed, and the blast of air hit my face.

"Go away!" Logan said. "You're not welcome here!" he punched at the place where the sound came from. My heart flopped sideways, but nothing happened. The clanking chains started again and the ghost moved on. I heard it clinking away in the distance. Maybe it didn't like getting punched.

* * *

Electra Magneta

We found what we were looking for in an old broken-down mausoleum. It was big enough to shelter us all, but decrepit enough that most Tributes wouldn't want it. We could squeeze underneath the rubble and it would be hard for anyone to attack us. We started back to get Apollo and Pandora.

A cannon sounded. We all jumped, then waited silently for a moment. But it was just the one.

"It's not them, then," Des said. "There would be two."

She was right. If the first was Apollo, whoever it was would be strong enough to kill Pandora. If it was Pandora, Apollo would try to save or avenge her. It was someone else. Hopefully Beth.

We all ducked and scattered when something glittered in the sky. In this Arena, it was probably a rain of knives or something. But it was just a parachute. Des snatched it, since she was the tallest.

"It's for us," Emmeline said as she read the number off the side. She opened it. There was a slender rod inside. It didn't look like much, but Emmeline and I knew it was electric, like a cattle prod. It might even work against those flying mutts.

 _From Electra's friends,_ the note read. Acee was nothing if not blunt. Emmeline took the note.

"I'll figure out something, don't worry. We can use this as kindling," she said.

It was good to have a weapon. It felt like a barrier between me and the Arena. And one more obstacle was already out of the way with that cannon, and then there was our shelter. Things were looking up.

* * *

Hadley Kinneth

My camp was under a pair of graves that had fallen over, making a little arch. There was enough shadow that I was almost invisible. I had some soda and a can of peaches from a grave offering. My next plan was to get some rocks and sticks to disguise my shelter even more.

Even though I knew it wasn't the mutts, I still jumped whenever a shadow passed over the ground. It was just bats- I knew because the mutts had much louder wings. They minded their own business and kept to themselves. I was jealous of them. They thought the Arena was a cozy home. They must have been in bat heaven being able to fly around at all hours eating bugs. If I could make a bow, maybe I could shoot one and eat it, as mean as it felt. Another one swooped around and flew off behind me.

I stood up from bending over a candy skull on a grave and saw something in the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw a man maybe five feet away from me. I couldn't imagine how he got there. He came out of nowhere. He couldn't have possibly snuck up on anyone. He was so tall he was almost a giant, and he was wearing a blazingly eye-catching red cape.

I knew what he was. Some stories never die. Even before I saw the blood on his face and in his eyes, I knew. I'd never heard of a human-shaped mutt before. I wondered if it was intelligent or not and which was worse.

I was frozen as we looked at each other. Even if I wasn't, I couldn't have run. He was almost twice as tall as I was. And I was close enough to see the whites of his bloodshot eyes and his pointed fangs.

* * *

 **54th place: Hadley Kinneth- bit by vampire**

 **Hadley was another loner and they're just not going to last long here. She might have been able to fight Beth, but not this guy. Hadley had a good personality and story, but she wasn't among the top as far as strength and stamina, so she was never going to win.**

 **This chapter is so named because the vampire happens to look exactly like that most prolific of vampires, Christopher Lee (who wrote back to me when I sent him fan mail, but that's another story). He's also super hungry so all his victims die and don't turn into vampires.**

 **This is probably all I'll be able to write before Africa, but I'll be thinking of ideas there and I'll be back in ten days.**


	46. Night of the Living Dead

**I'm back from Africa and happy to be home where it isn't ninety degrees at night!**

* * *

Alinta Fintan

We weren't going to last very long. Any of us could win, but we were a very big alliance of very young and small Tributes. I was surprised more of us hadn't died in the Bloodbath. If I didn't win and one of my allies did, I bet it would be Peach. She was big and tough. If she died, the alliance would get picked apart pretty quick.

It was fun to go through all the flowers on the different graves and pick out the edible ones. I wished I'd known about them at home. There was never enough food for all of us. We all knew the easy plants, like clover, but I never knew I could have eaten all those little purple violets that came up every spring. The only ones I didn't like were the roses. They tasted like soap.

My allies were a strange bunch. Silver and Anise both wanted to protect us. That didn't make any sense, since they were trying to protect more than one Tribute. They couldn't possibly keep two of us alive. What would happen if they had to pick? Anise would pick Alice if she could. Silver... she would probably just die of indecision. And didn't _they_ want to stay alive? How could their own lives be so cheap to them? They were a little older than I was, but they weren't _old_ or anything- not old enough that they should be ready to die.

Whoever won this time was going to go through some terrible things. The mutts were already bad enough, and I was sure they'd just barely started. The final battle of the Games was going to be something everyone remembered. It was going to take a really strong Tribute to make it through that. They definitely wouldn't come out in one piece.

* * *

DeMarcus King

It was so creepy that some of the gravestones were of us. Not _me_ in particular, at least. I'd died, but none of the graves had my name yet. It would be _so_ weird if I saw that. I hoped I had something good, like "beloved son", and not "DeMarcus King, died fighting some stupid gang battle".

It felt like night, even though it was always dark. The Anthem hadn't gone off yet, but it seemed like it didn't always go off at night necessarily. It just sort of sounded when enough people died. That way it was harder to tell how much time went by. We were confused, and confused people were easier to push into violence.

We all jumped out of our skin when a huge noise came out of nowhere. It wasn't alive, so it could have been worse, but then it sounded again. It sounded measured and regular, like the same exact noise. It echoed in the room as we all jumped up and got ready to fight.

"It's a clock," Blaise said, just when I figured out what it was. Normally that wouldn't have been scary, but I about died anyway.

" _Shit shit shit..."_ Logan said, and he kept saying it. Austin started to hyperventilate and we all squeezed into the doorway, ready to bolt out or huddle inside depending on what happened after nine more sounds. Because of course that would be how many there were. The clock was striking midnight. Nothing good ever happened at midnight. It was never a tea party or a basketball game. It was always an alien invasion or a plague of ghosts.

My heart raced as the final gong sounded. As the echoes faded, nothing happened. I knew it was just the calm before the storm. We looked out at the graves around us and waited for hell to break loose. And it did. In unison, all around us, hands burst out of the ground.

* * *

Elara Angelo

I thought something terrible was going to happen when I heard that clock striking. I hadn't seen anything yet, but I was keeping my eyes open.

I was sort of wrong and sort of right about the Arena. The food was all on the graves, so I didn't have to find it myself. On the other hand, I had to go through a lot of graves in order to find enough water. Maybe I was in a bad stretch- a bad stretch of _freaking cemetery,_ imagine that- or maybe it was like this all over. I suspected none of us were going to die of hunger or thirst. With seventy-three Tributes, the Gamemakers wanted a lot of fights.

Since I'd expected there would be no food, I'd run into the Bloodbath to take supplies. I had everything from a sleeping bag to a pair of shoes. I also had a hunting knife to use against anyone else I ran across. I hoped it would be helpful against the mutts as well, but I suspected they'd be even more formidable than usual. Or maybe they were ghosts and couldn't be killed. Unlike Tributes, dead mutts probably can't get killed again.

I screamed and twisted around when a rock hit my cheek. I scanned all around me, but nobody was there. I tried not to panic as I imagined which grave someone might be hiding behind and how strong they might be. They could stand up at any second and shoot an arrow at me almost before I saw them.

Another rock came at me, but I saw it coming this time. A rock just picked itself up off the ground and tossed itself at my nose. I had time to move out of the way and it sailed past my head.

"Who's there?" I asked, but I knew it was useless. No one was there. No one threw a rock at me. And then no one giggled and picked up another rock.

 _Wonderful. A poltergeist._ A "noisy ghost", as I remembered from who knows where. It sounded like a child, a conclusion aided by the low height from which the rock propelled itself. I moved again and the poltergeist huffed at me. The air around me shot down in temperature and my hair stood up. Two invisible fingers pinched my arm.

"Quit moving!"

* * *

Kerry Samosa

Zombies suck. I was never scared of ghosts. They just floated around and _woooooo_ ed at you. Werewolves sounded kind of cool. Maniacs were at least human, and vampires hated looking dumb so they wouldn't run after you if they ran. _Zombies,_ though... Zombies kept _coming._ They were scary and gross-looking and they just kept _chasing_ you trying to wear you down so they could _gnaw_ you to death. Zombie stories were the only ones that ever scared me.

There weren't as many as there could have been. Most of the graves stayed the way they were. I quickly noticed that the zombies meandering closer to us looked very familiar. Only the Tributes were coming back. I recognized Titus and couldn't help but that think that it was very appropriate. He looked pretty similar to when he was alive, except his lower jaw wasn't there and he was covered in rotten spots. So really, not similar at all.

I might have been making noise, but I couldn't tell over terror and also the groaning the zombies were making. They just had to be extra creepy about it. Zombies weren't enough. It had to be Tribute zombies making nasty groaning sounds. It was working. It would have worked if they were just plain zombies.

We didn't try to fight them. We just ran for it. The were slow, of course, but I didn't like knowing they were behind me even if they were a long way off. And more kept joining them. They came from all sides, like they could sense living flesh. Soon they were all around us, forming a ring that was getting slowly smaller.

Instead of looking out, I looked up. There was a giant angel statue near the far end of the zombie circle. I shouted for my allies and pointed to it. We reached it before the zombies made much progress and I started clambering up. I was sitting atop one of the wings in seconds, and I reached down to help the others. I grabbed Vextrix's shirt as she folded herself over the wing and hauled her up. We helped Zetan up, and then all three of us lifted Castiel. By that time, the zombies were just feet away.

The statue was about ten feet tall. We were out of reach of the zombies clustering around us, but not by much. They reached up and tried to grab our dangling feet, and we curled ourselves in tighter. More of them joined in until around twenty of them were grabbing at us.

Vextrix stabbed one in the head with her spear. I sagged with relief when it fell. Some zombies had to be shot, but these ones just required a big enough head wound. She stabbed another, but it hardly made a dent in the group. It was going to take ages for her to kill all of them. I just prayed she didn't drop her spear.

* * *

 _ **When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth**_

 **No (human) deaths this time, but I'm sure it won't take long. Theoretically, there could be 920 zombies at this point in Games history (disregarding changes from two Resurrection Games), but there aren't that many. I don't have a set number, but there's no more than 50 zombies across the Arena. They're your classical slow Romero-style zombies.**

 _ **Really**_ **slow answer: Yup, Christopher Lee sent me two signed pictures, since I sent him two letters. They're very handsome.**


	47. Psycho

**This one's pretty violent.**

* * *

Dominique Rindelle

Zombies weren't the end of the world. They don't run fast. They weren't a problem for me, and Wyatt was fast enough to keep ahead of them, too. Better zombies than werewolves.

We were so far ahead of them we could look back and observe them. There were four following us, and another two behind them. The two that were farthest back didn't seem interested in us. They split off from the group and went off in two separate directions. Whatever they were looking for, it wasn't us. I was sorry for whoever they were targeting, but mostly just happy it was someone else.

 _How are we going to get rid of them, though?_ Zombies could walk forever. I didn't want to get close enough to one to try to destroy its brain. It was fight or flight, and I was always better at flight. We needed to get out of sight. I didn't know how zombies worked. Could they see us if their eyes were dead? Did they work by smell? I suspected that if we were out of sight long enough, they'd lose interest and wander away. But there wasn't much cover in the graveyard. If we hid in a building, they might get too close before they got bored. It seemed best to keep running, even if we risked coming across another alliance on the way.

There was one nice thing about the Arena. It was so dark that it was easy for us to lose sight of the zombies as they got farther away behind us. After a few minutes, we couldn't hear their moans either. They were off bothering someone else.

"Great, zombies. _Now_ the Arena's all _scary,"_ Wyatt said.

"At least they're slow. I wonder how many there are," I said.

"It looked like they were all old Tributes. So that means there's probably..." Wyatt did some calculations in the air. "About a million."

"They've been doing Hunger Games for... 40,000 years?" I asked.

"Feels like it," Wyatt said.

* * *

Reiner Ludwig

I barely stopped my axe before I beheaded the Tribute I came across. At the last second, I saw it wasn't Beth or any of the Tributes who were threats. It was Anise. She darted away from the strike and peered around a human-sized grave marker at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Looking for food. Trying to survive. The same as you," she said.

"Is your whole alliance here?" I asked. She didn't want to tell, but we were going to find out eventually.

"We're over there," she said, pointing. "I didn't know you were here, though." She looked suddenly hopeful.

"You need to go," I said.

"Can't we stay close by? We won't make trouble," she said.

"You just want to be near us in case Beth's alliance comes looking for you. We're not your protectors," I said.

"Yes, that _is_ my reason," Anise said. She glared at me like I was the one trying to kill her. "You've seen my allies. They'll die if Beth finds them. Is that what you want?"

I remembered some of her allies. They were a bunch of little kids who should already have been dead by now. There was Alice with her deer, and Alinta, so ready to fight when she was half the size of anyone else. I thought of my own ally, so much like them. I knew what Lyte would have done if he'd found Anise. But I couldn't do the same.

"Sorry. We can't help you. We won't attack, but you need to go. All of you," I said. Anise didn't say anything as she slunk away. She looked disgusted with me. I wasn't proud of what I'd done, but I was just trying to survive. The same as her.

* * *

Addie Child

We'd just gotten all settled in and found a food source, and now we had to leave. I wanted to march up to Reiner and his gang and give them a piece of my mind, but my alliance was... less than formidable. So we were on the move again.

 _Some_ good did come of it, though. As we walked, we came across some graves that had actual food on them. The flowers were very nice, but it was good to have some variety. We went on further, and I noticed one of the graves had a string of garlic draped over it. Then there was another one.

"Ick, garlic. Why would anyone leave _that_ for a dead relative?" I asked.

"It's to ward off _vaaaaampires,"_ Peach said, and she wiggled her fingers. Alice's eyes went wide and she clutched her deer.

"Hey, you're scaring Alice!" Alinta said.

"Vampires aren't real," Silver said.

"Neither are zombies, but we still saw one," I said. It hadn't paid us any attention, though. It seemed to have something else in mind.

"Even if they _were_ real, the garlic is probably to keep them underground," Anise said. I looked at the grave and imagined a very angry vampire stuck in his coffin, frowning with folded arms. Sucked to be him.

Mouse took one of the garlic cloves and bit into it.

"Ew! You don't know how long that's been there!" I said.

"It tastes okay," he said.

"If you stink, you have to sleep alone," I said. And yet, as we went on, I stuck close to Mouse. Vampires definitely aren't real, but if they are, they hate garlic.

* * *

Blaise Wesley

We got lucky. The zombies were so slow we were out of sight before they were finished digging themselves out of their graves. They didn't follow us, so we must have escaped their notice. We watched them in the distance from the top of another stone building where we'd made our new camp. If they came at us, we'd have plenty of time to get away. We didn't even _have_ to go if we didn't want. We were high enough that they couldn't reach us. I just wasn't sure we had enough supplies to outlast them.

"We sticking around or running for it?" Zach asked.

"Everyone's probably moving around. We might run into someone else," Logan said.

"Let's stay here. We can all go down and get all the grave offerings we can find, them meet back up here and wait for them to go," Jay said.

"Go where?" DeMarcus said.

"I don't know. I guess until someone kills them. We can kill any that get too close to us," Jay said. We all climbed down and split up to look for supplies. I went with Logan and DeMarcus, and Jay took Austin and Zach.

I didn't like being on the ground knowing there were zombies around, but they were loud and slow. We wouldn't get surprised, especially when three of us were together. We grabbed all the baskets we could find and dumped the contents together as best as we could. If we weren't going to be moving much and we were careful, we could last a week on our roof. But there was no way to tell how long we'd have to hold out. We didn't even know how many zombies there were.

There was no way to really tell time, but we tried to start moving back after about half an hour. When we got back to the building, Zach was standing by it.

"Where's everyone else?" Logan said.

"We can't find Austin. Jay's looking for him. I came back to find you so we could all look," Zach said. We put our supplies on the roof and went back out to look for our missing brother. I was sure we'd find him, but I was less sure of what we'd find. I didn't want to say anything, but in my heart I was afraid there was one more zombie out there.

* * *

Austin Dallas

I felt like I was hungover. My head hurt, and I didn't remember how I'd gotten where I was. I was on the ground, and I was all stretched out like I was doing exercises. Someone was moving around above me.

"Jay? I think I hit my head," I said.

"No, _I_ hit your head," a female voice said. "With this rock. You're stronger than me, so I had to if I wanted to do this right."

I tried to jump up, but something pulled my limbs back. My arms were tied behind my back and my legs were tied together as well. I was lying in the bottom of an open grave. Beth knew what she was doing.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, trying to act normal. Jay had to be close by. I was too heavy for Beth to move far.

"Gutting you," she said. "I've been waiting a long time. I had to wait until Jay went by. Lucky he didn't look in here. It's kind of poetic or something, though. You're going to die in a grave, which works out nice."

I tried to yell, but Beth shoved a shirt in my mouth. I didn't want to know where she got it.

"Hey! Knock it off!" she said. She reached into a bag and pulled out a saw.

"The Gamemakers sure like me. I'm about the only one actually _trying_ to kill people, so they made sure I was supplied. Since this is a graveyard Arena and all, they went with the theme. There was an entire autopsy kit at the Bloodbath. But I was thinking more of vivisection," she said. She put the saw back and took out a small knife. She cut my shirt open and spread it apart, baring my chest.

"There's a method to this, you know," she said. She pulled the knife sideways underneath my collarbone. It was so sharp it felt more like a scrape than a cut, but there was so much blood. She made another cut perpendicular to the first. I squirmed and tried to turn aside as she made a final horizontal cut across my stomach. Even with the shirt, I tried to make enough noise to attract my allies. Of course, I didn't have to have a reason to make noise.

"Now you can just pull apart the flaps and it's all there," Beth said. She grabbed the left flap of skin and peeled it back gently. I felt cold air on my naked flesh and waited for the pain of ripping skin. But she stopped.

"Darn, I didn't go deep enough. This is just the under skin," Beth said. She raised the knife.

"Austin!" Jay called from somewhere in the distance. Beth froze and looked up at the edge of the grave. My muffled noises grew louder.

"Shoot. Maybe next time. See you later," she said. She swiped the knife down the center of my chest and took one loving look at the guts she'd exposed. Then she climbed out of the grave and ran off.

"Hey!" Jay yelled. I heard him yelling more as he came closer. He almost fell into the grave with me. When he saw me, he jumped down next to me. He blanched at the sight of my ruined chest, then pulled the shirt from my mouth.

"Who did this?" he demanded.

"Beth," I whispered. I knew it was too late. I wondered if Jay could see my heartbeat getting weaker. It didn't hurt like it used to. Not even enough to cry. Jay was doing enough of that for both of us.

"You'll be okay. I'll fix you," Jay said. He tried to embrace me without making the damage worse. "Austin? _Austin?!"_

I felt worse for him than for me. I didn't mind it not hurting anymore. It was going to hurt Jay a lot longer.

* * *

 **53rd place: Austin Dallas- gutted by Beth**

 **This will set up some dramatic possibilities. Now Jay hates Beth even more. I always liked Austin because he had to work so hard to differentiate himself from Jay. He was quieter, more hesitant, and more sensitive. All those things also made him less likely to win, so here he is. But the Jaymen are still going strong, and now they have an axe to grind.**

 **Now that the chapter's over and it won't spoil things, I can say this. If a Tribute gets a POV ahead of schedule, it probably means they're dying and I let them jump ahead because it's their last POV and the others can get them more quickly with fewer Tributes. So maybe don't watch too carefully if you want to keep the suspense. I do still have my list going and there should only be about six Tributes with no Games POVs yet, so they're coming next.**


	48. Day of the Dead

Inky Balboa

We were all huddled underneath a fallen grave watching someone walk by a long way away. I wasn't sure why we were all so scared- except Peach, she wanted to fight it- but there was something about the figure that gave us all chills.

Maybe it was because it wasn't moving quite right. It was walking like both its legs were broken, or like it just learned how. It was all leaned forward and it was moving like a wind-up toy that had been pointed in some random but straight direction. I would have guessed it was Jack, but it wasn't carrying a machete.

"That's not a real person," Alice whispered from her perch jammed in next to me.

"What do you mean it's not a person?" Peach said. Anise shushed her frantically.

"It's a monster," Alice said, almost too quietly to hear. Normally I would have said something like "monsters aren't real", but that wasn't true here. It could be anything anyone ever made up in all of history.

I thought of all the monsters I'd read about in fairy tale books and horror stories. It was some sort of human monster- not a werewolf, and it didn't act like a vampire. It moved more like a corpse, so it was probably something like a zombie. Maybe a plain zombie, or maybe something more exotic, like a draugr. But the Gamemakers weren't that particular about what _sort_ of zombie it was, only that it was a zombie, and I suspected it was just a plain zombie.

But that only brought more questions. Was it the original voodoo zombie, which was bound to one person and didn't usually attack whoever it saw? More likely it was the plague zombie most popular in horror stories- the kind that tried to bite anyone it could. Lucky for us, it was a slow-moving one. Some books tried to be extra scary by making their zombies be able to run.

So we had in front of us a slow-moving, biting zombie. It was nice to know what it was, but I wasn't about to tell Alice.

* * *

Zetan Thompson

Even after getting Reaped twice, I never imagined I'd be perched on a statue fighting off a horde of zombies. That was something out of some Capitol virtual reality game for people who got bored of eating bonbons and taking bubble baths. I felt useless next to Vextrix as she speared at the horde with me, Castiel, and Gizmo next to her just sort of chilling. I should have grabbed more weapons.

Gizmo was way ahead of me, as could be expected. He pulled our supply bag open and looked through for anything we could use to help Vextrix.

"What you got?" I asked. He handed me a pocketknife.

"You've got to be kidding," I said. Castiel snickered.

"What are _you_ going to do, choirboy? Pray for them?" I said. Castiel pounded at a cracked portion of the statue until a chunk of plastery rock split off. Gizmo armed himself with a soda bottle.

I tried to pick out a target from the four zombies milling around the statue, each trampling the three comrades Vextrix had already re-slain. I aimed at the closest one and swung my knife down at his head like a hammer. It slid through its soft flesh until it stopped sharp against the skull. My hand kept going and I sliced my palm as it shot down the blade. I pulled it out and stuck it back in the same place. The skull cracked and the knife slid down into soft, squishy brains. The zombie fell and I yanked the knife out so I didn't lose it.

"That was way easier than I expected," Gizmo said.

"You just have to destroy the brain," Castiel said.

"He didn't destroy it. He barely touched it," Gizmo said. All the while Vextrix was sticking any zombie that got close enough.

"I guess it was already in pretty bad shape," I said. I felt pretty accomplished looking down at the twice-dead zombie I'd killed. If I didn't get out of here, I wanted my grave to read _Zetan Thompson. Killed a zombie. With a pocketknife._

* * *

Burgundy Lumineer

How could there be so many of them? Actually, how could there be so _few_ of them? I could see all the zombies were past Tributes. At least, I assumed they all were, since I recognized five of them and the rest were all the right age. I wondered if we were all zombies too. It would give the Capitol such sick enjoyment to see me get killed by... me. They moved so slowly, but wherever I turned, there were more. I could hardly hear anything over their overlapping moans.

Some of the zombies looked freshly dead. I wasn't around for the last Games, but I recognized one of the faces from the tapes I'd watch to catch up. The boy looked like he might be as alive as me, if it wasn't for his ghastly expression and off-kilter movement. Then there were the ones from around my year. Their flesh was hanging off in curled peels and one's eye dangled against its cheek. One zombie, barely more than a pile of ambulatory bones, might have come from the very first Games.

They assaulted every one of my senses, from their horrible frames to their unearthly moans. I could smell the dried, caked blood and the dirt stuck under their nails as they converged around me. Then I felt one's cold, stiff skin as its hand brushed me as I ran past it, looking for an escape. The Arena was so open and exposed, but every bit of it around me was full of them. There was nowhere to go.

I felt them again when one grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me in as I tried to run between two of them. The other lurched forward and I was stuck between them like a sandwich. The first one bit my shoulder and its blunt human teeth didn't tear the skin but crushed it. Its jaws met, gouging out my flesh. The one in front of me bit into my cheek just as I started to scream. More and more joined in, until there was hardly enough for each of them to get a bite.

At last, I could hear something over their moans. It was me.

* * *

Mouse Parentii

Garlic wasn't so bad once you got used to it. I liked how spicy and hot it was. It warmed me up in the cold Arena. Maybe Alice wouldn't want to kiss me, but I could wait until we were old for that. Like, sixteen or something.

Someone's cannon went off. That made about fifty left. It was still so many. We were going to be here a long time. Until we got attacked, it was easy to pretend nothing was going to happen. The monster man had stumbled away, so I didn't have to be too scared just yet.

"Is it warmer?" Addie said.

"I don't _think_ so," Peach said. We all felt the air around us and thought.

" _I_ don't feel anything," Anise said.

"I've been eating lots of garlic, so I feel great," I said.

"Yeah, _you_ feel great, stinkbug," Peach said.

"Maybe the sun's coming out," Alice said hopefully. She looked up at the sky, but all I could see was the same full moon.

"I hope so," I said. It was so weird that it was always night. It felt like there had never really been day and I was just imagining it.

"Me, too. I never know when I'm supposed to sleep. I'm always tired," Addie said.

I hoped I was wrong and that it _was_ warmer out. If the sun just came up, the Arena would be half as scary. It still wasn't great to be surrounded by dead guys and that monster from a few minutes ago, but everything was less scary in the day.

* * *

 **52nd place: Burgundy Lumineer- Eaten by zombies**

 **Burgundy had the rotten luck to be between a bunch of Tribute graves when the zombies rose. I liked him, even though I didn't know him as well since he was from somewhere else. I appreciated the point of his original arc and I liked that he showed men have feelings too. That's why he made it this long. Then I just had to get rid of more people, since 52 is a lot.**


	49. The Masque of the Red Death

**I done goofed. It was Kerry and not Gizmo in Vextrix's alliance. Thanks for catching that.**

* * *

 **Celestial Yeager-** _Alice Silvin_

Celestial was so nice. She had the most beautiful name. I hoped she was back with the otters again. With her name, though, she was probably an angel all along, too. Just like Anise and Silver.

* * *

 **Hadley Kinneth** \- _Beth O'Darielle_

Nuts, another one I couldn't kill. Couldn't she have the decency to wait until I got there?

* * *

 **Pandora Sent-** Apollo Wilson

I only left her alone a few minutes. When I found her, she was as pale as the moon above us. I remembered the bat I'd seen flying by a few minutes before. I saw the marks on her neck and knew what happened.

* * *

 **Austin Dallas-** Jay Dallas

He was my most important duty. Before any of my other allies, I was supposed to take care of him. I was supposed to die before Austin did. I was his big brother. It was my job. Vengeance wouldn't bring him back. It would never fix what happened. But I still wanted it.

* * *

 **Burgundy Lumineer-** Anise Haeffele

He always seemed so sad. Something really bad must have happened to him last time. But I couldn't think of much worse than this Arena.

* * *

Lyte Anderson

There was nothing to be worried about. Felix just had a cold. He was being a huge drama queen about it, but it was just a cold. At first my thoughts had run wild- everything from scarlet fever to cancer- but it looked like, after all that worry, it was just a cold.

"What's the diagnosis?" Vera asked as I bent over Felix, who was lying dramatically on the ground.

"It's a cold," I said.

"That's it? Actually, that's great, since I think I caught it. I was afraid I was dying," Vera said. She held a hand to her head.

It was funny now that it wasn't so serious. There were a thousand tiny inconveniences people didn't think about when they watched the Games. We had to go to the bathroom without toilet paper. We had to eat cold, bland food with dirt under our nails. Our water was gross and muddy. Our backs were stiff from sleeping on the ground. And sometimes, some unlucky Tribute got a cold.

"Great, you gave everyone your cold," Reiner said. I could feel the start of a headache myself. Felix feverishly rubbed at his neck. His hand was damp when it came away. I noticed something funny about the way he moved his arm. His underarm was swollen.

It took me a minute to remember what that meant. When I did, I tried to keep a straight face, but I was quailing inside. I realized that what I had thought was a bruise on Felix's neck was anything but. This was no cold.

It was Black Death.

* * *

Blaise Wesley

I threw up when I saw what Beth did to Austin. My mouth tasted awful and my nose still burned. Zach was crying. It was weird to see someone so big and happy like that. We were all chasing after Jay, who was running through the Arena like a hellhound.

"Jay, man! You gotta slow down!" Logan said in vain. Behind us, I could see the light of the hovercraft as it came for Austin. It was the brightest the Arena had ever been. The shadows lengthened and swooped as the big ship came down.

I didn't know how Beth could possibly move fast enough to stay ahead of Jay, but I couldn't see any sign of her among the graves. There were plenty of places for her to hide, but I didn't think she could hide from Jay for long. He'd rip the stones from the ground to find her. Logan darted in front og him and blocked the way.

"You're not going to find her like this," he said. Jay stopped and glared warningly at him.

"I want her," he said.

"We'll find her. But you can't just charge off and expect her to turn up. It doesn't matter how mad you are. That won't change where she is," Logan said. Jay trembled and his rage seemed to double. I realized he was trying to maintain his anger because it was the only thing keeping his from despair.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"She'll be looking for her next kill already. Wherever there are weak Tributes, she'll be looking," Logan said.

"The children's alliance," I said. The group we'd all thought would die in the Bloodbath. A large group that should be easy to find, what with the small, noisy children in it. Children barely younger than I was. Beth would hit them like a fox in a henhouse. For more than Jay's sake, I hoped we found them first.

* * *

Olivier Fowler

Something was wrong with Tariq. It started with the horrible black lumps all over his body. He tossed and thrashed as he scratched at them until they popped open and leaked blood and pale liquid everywhere. A horrible stench arose from him, and blood oozed from his nose and ears. The blood that wasn't pouring out of him pooled under his skin, so he was mottled all over with dark bruises. He clung to me when I tried to stand.

"What did you do to me? You poisoned me!" he said. He dragged me closer and I prayed that whatever it was wasn't contagious.

"It wasn't me! I'm trying to help you!" I said. There was nothing I could do. No one wanted to send Tariq medicine. He was accusing and paranoid. No one thought he'd win. But no matter how he was acting, I didn't want to lose him. He'd just come back to life, as fragile as a flicker of flame. In a second he could be gone again, and nothing could replace him.

"You're going to leave me," he said. His back arced in pain and he whimpered. He itched at one of the black lumps on his neck, his bloodied fingers leaving trails of gore across his skin. He looked at something nonexistent behind me and I saw that the little bit of reality he still had when the Games began was gone. It didn't matter what I said or did. He couldn't understand any of it.

"You know what? I _am_ going to leave you," I said. "I'm tired of you whining and accusing me of things. I've been a good ally. I thought we were friends, but you've done nothing but attack me. I'm done. You can die alone. I just hope it's quick. You've been suffering long enough."

Tariq didn't say anything as I left. I hoped I hadn't made a terrible mistake- that I wasn't wrong and he could understand everything. I only said it because I was angry and hurt. I didn't want to be there when he died. I couldn't bear to watch that light flicker out again.

* * *

Tariq Bluegrass

Pain shot through me and choked out my pleas as Olivier left. I was right about him all along. He poisoned me and left me to die alone when I was helpless. He wouldn't even stay with me in my last painful moments. I was alone in the cold, dark Arena. By the end, I was wishing for the spiders' company.

* * *

 **51st place: Tariq Bluegrass- Black Death**

 **Tariq was set to die horribly again, perhaps killed by his ally. Olivier didn't have to kill him, but as far as Tariq was concerned, he did worse by leaving him. I can't blame Olivier, since Tariq was rather difficult. However, he was only reacting to the trauma of what happened the first time around. He was exactly the wrong sort of personality for the Games, and being abandoned by everyone in his past didn't help. Hopefully this time he can find rest.**

 **Red Death is actually smallpox, but there were no horror movies about Black Death.**


	50. Slumber Party Massacre

Peach Unk

This was not good. Silver, Addie, Tawny, Inky, and Alinta were half-dead from some horrible plague the Gamemakers cooked up. They were covered in boils and the dirt around them was flecked with blood from their movements and their... bathroom activities. I was surprised Addie wasn't dead yet. She seemed to have it the worst.

Only Anise, Mouse, and Alice were unaffected. I got the whatever it was, too, but it didn't hit me nearly so hard. I got a couple of nasty boils on my back and underarms, but they were already getting smaller. I felt like crap, but I wasn't actively dying like half my alliance. I was wearily standing guard while my three luckiest allies tried to tend to the others.

"Hey, why aren't _you_ sick?" I asked Mouse. He shrugged.

"Maybe it was all that garlic I ate," he said. "Alice has been eating it, too."

"Yeah, maybe the germs don't like your stink," I said. "But Anise hasn't eaten any."

"I got sick. I just got better. Guess I got lucky," Anise said as she stopped Alinta from scratching one of her boils.

"So it's just you two?" I said to Mouse. "You think you can find more of that stuff?"

"Yeah, I know where there's a big string of it. Come on!" Mouse said to Alice. They ran off. I wouldn't have wanted them to go alone normally, but it was all I could do to watch over the five sick girls I was already guarding.

A minute later, I was glad they were gone. Someone was coming toward us. I could tell from the confident swagger and completely unafraid demeanor who it was. I was just glad her cronies weren't with her.

"Where's your boyfriend?" I asked as Beth came closer. She smiled and shrugged nonchalantly with a knife in one hand.

"Off getting some side action. We're not jealous," she said. I knew what she was here for. My allies were helpless all around her, like fish in a barrel. But there were two things she'd have to get through. And before I could even get up, Anise was already on her.

* * *

Anise Haeffele

When the time came, I didn't even have to think about being brave. I jumped at Beth as she turned her gaze toward the nearest of my fallen allies- Inky. I aimed at her knife arm and wrapped myself around it, trying with my whole weight to stop her from using it. I couldn't imagine watching Beth tear into one of my allies after another, cutting into them as slowly as she wanted. I knew Peach wouldn't be far behind.

She wasn't, but she also wasn't fast enough. Beth got her other arm twisted around and smacked me so hard I flew backwards a step, giving her enough room to stab me in the chest with her scalpel. It didn't hit my heart, but it was so sharp it slid in almost its entire length in less than a second. It was like cutting warm butter. I gasped and fell down, almost tripping Beth as Peach jumped over me into her.

I didn't have to be brave anymore. I'd done all I could. I lay panting on the ground, watching Peach and Beth fight but too weak to help. I dragged myself toward Inky and draped myself across her. She barely noticed I was there as I gathered her underneath me.

It didn't even hurt. The knife was so sharp it was like it was never there. I knew I didn't have to be afraid. Peach would take care of the others. Alice wasn't even here. She thought I was an angel. It was time for me to fly home.

* * *

Tawny Stallyon

It was hard enough just to breathe. I craned my neck weakly to watch Peach and Beth fighting. Peach didn't have a weapon, and she had to move quickly to stay out of range of Beth's knife. She was trying to drive Beth farther away, where she couldn't get us. Beth swiped her knife at Peach, making her jump back. She stumbled over a grave and Beth tried to stab her as she went down. Peach dodged it, but the movement made her fall heavily against the gravestone, knocking her breath away. I expected Beth to move in, but instead she ran the other way. Peach's eyes flew open and she drew in her breath to scream when she realized what she planned.

"Too late," Beth said. She ran ahead of Peach toward me and the other invalids. We were lying loosely in a line, arranged by Anise so she could tend to us more efficiently. As Peach started to struggle up, Beth reached the first on her side of the line. She ran her knife along Addie's throat, and it opened like a finger through sand. She gurgled faintly as Beth gleefully hopped over her and continued to the next body. She stuck her knife into Silver's sternum and dragged it down, laying her open down to her hips. I was sickly grateful that Silver didn't have time to scream.

I was the next in line. For me, it was the heart. I was almost glad when it came. Everything hurt so much already, and then it finally stopped.

* * *

Addie Child

What was going on? Why did it hurt so much? First it was the blood bubbling under my skin, and then the blood was on top of my skin. My throat didn't hurt until a minute ago. The sickness was getting worse. But then it felt much, much better.

* * *

Silver Flower

 _Keep going, Alice. Keep going, Mouse. Don't stop. Don't come back. Please, if I'm your angel, listen. Fly away._

* * *

Alinta Fintan

Beth thought I was already done for. Which I was, but that wouldn't stop me. As she came toward me, I was deathly still. I moaned softly and twitched as she reached me and stood over me smiling. She bent down to finish the job and I struck. I wrapped both arms around her leg and bit her with all my failing strength. I tasted her blood and thrashed like a dog as I clenched my jaws. I didn't let go when she yanked back, and I didn't let go when she pounded her knife into my back over and over. If I held her long enough, Peach would have time to get to her. We could still save Inky. And if Peach didn't kill Beth, I might have gotten the job done.

 _I hope it's catching, witch. I hope it burns you up and kills you from the inside out. Make sure to tell them. Tell them Alinta's spit killed you._

* * *

Beth O'Darielle

I didn't think the little scamp had that much life left in her. Before I could untangle myself, Peach slammed into me from behind. The knife flew out of my hand and I lurched forward onto my knees. I tried to crawl toward the knife and Peach coiled both arms around my neck in a choke hold. I slammed my elbow into her stomach and wiggled free.

"Don't try for that knife, bitch," Peach warned. I got to my feet and started to sprint. I heard Peach getting up behind me and played my last card.

"Better not waste your time. I might have missed one," I said. I looked over my shoulder and saw Peach looking at her bleeding allies. I knew they were all dying, but Peach wouldn't take that chance. She abandoned the chase and ran to her allies' side.

I'd lost my knife and almost gotten myself killed. If Peach had kept chasing me, she'd have caught me. My leg was oozing blood and I was running all tilted to one side. I had more knives, but I only had one knife. I had to be more careful. I'd gotten lucky twice, and it wouldn't last forever.

* * *

 **Well that was probably the single most horrific scene I've ever written. That must have been something awful from Peach's perspective.**

 **50th place: Anise Haeffele- Killed by Beth**

 **Anise was worried she wouldn't be brave enough again, but it was just in her blood. She proved herself again and she earned a painless death, so I gave it to her. Alice was right to call her an angel. She's with them now.**

 **49th place: Addie Child- Killed by Beth**

 **Addie wasn't in a good Arena for her skills this year, and she took on another layer of difficulty by allying with the children when she could have gone out on her own. It was a brave choice for a brave girl. That's not why I killed her, so her submitter doesn't have to rue putting her in that alliance. With this many Tributes, she didn't seem particularly like the final girl, and since this strain of Black Death is contagious, it made sense she'd catch it, and that seriously weakened her. But Addie learned from her last Games and she was a great addition this year.**

 **48th place: Silver Flower- Knifed by Beth**

 **If she hadn't been sick, Silver still would have died. Pray taught her some martial arts, but Silver's not a fighter. She would have died fighting Beth instead. She can rest knowing that Mouse and Alice escaped, along with Peach. She did all she could and now this angel can fly off with Anise.**

 **47th place: Tawny Stallyon- Knifed by Beth**

 **In a massacre like this, it's easy for the victims to blur together, but I picked them carefully. Tawny was a valuable ally and kept her entire alliance from starvation with her autistic obsession with flowers. Since she was unlikely to win, it was easy to roll her into the massacre so there would be enough victims to make a big impact. I liked Tawny even though she was adopted into this story. She fit right in and I'll miss her.**

 **46th place: Alinta Fintan- Knifed by Beth**

 **Alinta doesn't let anything intimidate her. She can't win the Games just by being undaunted, but she still packs a punch. She wasn't strong enough to kill Beth, but only Alinta would have the fire left in her to fight back. She bought time for Inky and Beth is now infected with Black Death, which will surely slow her down and quite possibly could kill her. Alinta, as always, refuses to go quietly into that dark night. She prefers to go screaming and thrashing.**


	51. 28 Days Later

Merle Loveridge

Torchy had Black Death. There was no mistaking the huge sores and the black bruises like rotten spots on an apple. I was surprised I wasn't sick, too, but it made sense when I thought about it. Black Death was spread by fleas that lived on rats. I was afraid of the rats Torchy and I saw scuttling between the graves, and I always shrank back when I saw them. Torchy was indifferent to them. He even caught one with his knife and roasted it over our fire. I should have warned him, but it never crossed my mind.

This was far beyond my home-grown healing knowledge. Black Death required a hospital and expert doctors, not a handful of leaves and berries. I was ready to grasp at any faint hope of salvation, and that was all I had. I knew Black Death was caused by bacteria, and bacteria were killed by antibiotics. It was the longest shot I could imagine, but there _was_ one thing I could try.

I searched through our supplies and found what I needed. As Torchy and I picked over the grave offerings, we happened across a grave that held nothing but a strand of garlic draped across it. I scooped it up while Torchy joked that it was keeping a vampire from coming up, which scared me half to death. Lucky for him, it wasn't true, and now we at least had something. It wasn't the powerful medicine the Capitol had that could have cured him in a minute, but garlic was the strongest natural antibiotic I knew of. We used it at home to ward off infection for miners that were certain to get dirt and dust in the smallest cuts. It didn't smell pretty, but sometimes it worked.

Torchy didn't want to eat the clove I pressed onto him. I didn't blame him. It stank, and he was already nauseated enough. But I managed to coax him into forcing it down. As soon as he finished one clove, I peeled another. It probably wouldn't work. It was probably too late. But it was our only chance.

* * *

Felix Veaux

It was so meaningless. They brought me back and gave Tillo another chance to see me just so they could watch her lose me again. She was the strongest person I knew, but they were determined to wear me down. They let me see the son that was mine in spirit, even if I wasn't biologically his father, just so they could take me away again. I lived through the Bloodbath and escaped zombies and flying hellfiends just to fall to a disease that had been eradicated for hundreds of years.

I faintly heard Lyte weeping over me. I knew he was going to blame himself, even if there was nothing he possibly could have done. It wouldn't have mattered if he was the best-trained doctor in the world. He couldn't do anything against a disease like this when his only tools were pieces of gravestone and withered grass. It wasn't his fault at all. I hoped he could see that.

It was right that Tillo would be the one to win. She was stronger than I was. I couldn't bear to lose her once, let alone three times. I didn't know how she'd do it again, but I had faith in her. She was the strongest person I knew.

* * *

Reiner Ludwig

Lyte didn't deserve this. He was crying long before Felix's cannon went off, and he looked broken as he knelt by the body. I knew I wasn't in much better shape than Felix, but I'd never let Lyte see it. I'd hold myself together by willpower until the very end, and if I thought it was going to get the better of me, I'd slip away and pick a fight with a mutt or whoever I happened across first so that would kill me and not the disease. I didn't want Lyte to think he'd failed me.

It was a cruel mercy on the Gamemakers' part to spare Lyte from the sickness. They wanted him to be the big hero and find a cure again. But there was nothing he could do against the Black Death. They say it wiped out half the world once. What could one boy do against a plague history's finest doctors took centuries to master? I was only grateful Frankie seemed to have gotten a lighter case as well. Vera and I were flirting with death, but at least Lyte wouldn't leave anyone. Not that I trusted Frankie not to abandon him if he thought he wasn't useful.

I was afraid to die, even if it had already happened twice. I didn't know why I clung to a world full of so much pain and cruelty. There were still good things in it. There was a woman I loved, a woman who was far away and probably far beyond me. There were allies I trusted with my fragile life, and I didn't want them to die either. We were people, not actors in the Capitol's medical melodrama. They put us here, and they would determine whether we lived or died. Lyte was out of his league. Only the Capitol could save us.

* * *

Vextrix Webb

Kerry didn't like the zombies, but I didn't mind them as much as I might have. They were sort of like us- brought back by Capitol magic for their ruthless purposes. It didn't stop me from killing them, though. As soon as we'd cleared a space around the statue, I jumped off it. Zetan followed, while Kerry hung back.

"Where you going? What's wrong with here?" he asked.

"We should get to somewhere more stable, like one of those," I said, pointing at the stone houses scattered around the graveyard. The number of zombies had thinned, and the only two I could see were a long way off. There was nothing to worry about. I started to wonder why I'd picked Kerry as an ally, but I reminded myself that he had assets as well as drawbacks. It was his idea to climb the statue, and a fear of zombies wouldn't have been a problem in a normal Arena. As for Zetan... I picked him because he was cute. Maybe not quite as cute as Erwin- I _might_ have followed him around for a few days trying to get the courage to ask him to mentor me before I gave up and asked Estrella- but pretty cute.

"Let's go on that one. It's close," Kerry said, pointing to the closest building. He ran ahead of me and Zetan, who slowed down to snatch a basket off of one of the graves. We caught up to Kerry as he tried to scale the stone walls.

"Gimme a hand here," he said. We formed ourselves into a rickety human ladder, with Zetan on the bottom and me in the middle. Kerry climbed up and pulled himself onto the roof. He grabbed the back of my shirt and helped me slide up on my belly next to him. We both pulled Zetan up, and we were safe and secure again.

"We have enough room to sleep here," Zetan said. The building was wide enough that we could spread out a little and still avoid the zombies, and the slope of the roof was gentle enough that we could rest if we folded ourselves over the top. If the two zombies slowly approaching were the last ones, we wouldn't need to stay long, but I could give Kerry a break. He'd been through enough lately.

* * *

 **45th place: Felix Veaux- Black Death**

 **Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Felix tends to get overshadowed by Tillo, but he's much more complex than that. She's safe (as safe as a Victor can be) in the Victor's Village, and he's stuck going through the Games over and over. He's strong, but he never ends up stronger than everyone else. It wouldn't make sense to spare everyone in the alliance, and Felix was the first to go. His legacy lives on in Tillo's son.**


	52. And Then There Were None

**I keep messing up, so here's the official word: It's definitely Vextrix, Kerry, Zetan, and Castiel in their alliance.**

* * *

Gabriel Farad

It was hard to stay positive in an Arena like this, but I wasn't going to do the Gamemakers' work for them. We'd had a light time of it, relatively speaking. I had it even easier than Delilah, who kept jumping at noises that were blissfully meaningless to me. One time she tried to catch my attention at the same instant something invisible poked me right in the ear. I realized what was going on and had to smile. Sucks to be a big mean scary poltergeist when your target can't hear your terrible wails.

It felt ghoulish harvesting supplies from graves, but it wasn't like they needed them. And the Gamemakers took such meticulous pride in their work. One pink stone, marked only "Beloved", had a rag doll leaned against it, as though we'd just missed the visitor.

 _What kind of name is that?_ I asked Delilah.

"It's a baby. It happens in Ten sometimes. Lots of us don't name our babies until after they're born. Sometimes it turns out to be a waste," she said. We never knew how much of the Arena was real and how much was for show. We might just have been standing by a rock with a word carved on it. Or there might be an actual baby under there, dead before she even got to live. Maybe they even chose her just for this purpose, to make sure they'd have their body. Nothing was beneath the Gamemakers. I turned away from the grave and left whatever was left there in peace.

 _The moon is lovely tonight._ I didn't usually get to see so many stars in Five. I could see the face in the full moon. It was the same one we used to watch at home. I used to pretend the man in the moon was my friend. Whenever I walked around at night, he always followed me.

I turned my eyes back to the ground and focused on the graves in front of me. There were no more dolls, and I was grateful for that. There was, however, another basket a few stones down. I was always afraid something was going to burst out and scold me for taking its food, but it hadn't happened yet. It didn't stop the fear, though. Stranger things had happened in Arenas.

* * *

Ever Fellows

We were all on edge, even more than normal. We'd seen our first zombie a few hours ago. We didn't know what it was until after I'd already thrown a knife at it. If I'd known what I was attacking, I might not have been so brave. And so, we inadvertently found out that the Arena's zombies could be killed with a simple knife to the head if thrown with enough force. I suspected I got lucky, or else its skull was softer than a normal person's. I didn't usually have enough strength to put a knife through bone. I left that part out as we examined the body, though. We had enough to be afraid of. We hadn't seen any others, but I'd never heard of a zombie story with only one zombie.

I was the first to see the two figures approaching us. River was watching our backs, and Junie happened to be looking to one side. I focused in on them in a heartbeat and scanned them. The farthest one was too distant to see clearly. It looked small, and I guessed it was female. The closer one had its head down. It was coming toward us like it didn't notice us, though the last zombie seemed to sense us before we sensed it. I took a knife from my belt and my allies looked forward at the noise. Junie pressed in closer to me and River's sword arm tensed.

The farthest figure suddenly and silently ran forward, much faster than the zombie from before had moved. My arm was already moving back when it raised its arms in a very human gesture. I let the knife fly.

* * *

Delilah Clementine

When I saw the figures in the distance, I froze. They were human, but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. I was afraid any sudden moves would draw an attack, and I hoped Gabriel and I could slip away before they got closer. But Gabriel kept going forward, his eyes on the dirt of the grave in front of him. He couldn't see the three strangers. He didn't see the danger we were in.

I prayed I wasn't too late as I ran forward to warn him. It was useless to yell, so I raised my arms, hoping he'd see them from the corners of his eyes. He jerked back and fell forward while I was still running. His cannon stopped me from going closer. I saw a sliver of moonlight reflected from the knife in his throat. It was so quick I didn't know how to react.

What I did know was that I was still in range of whoever killed him. I doubled back and fled, zigzagging between the stones to evade the killer's projectiles. I expected at any minute to feel the metal slam into my back, but it never came. When I glanced over my shoulder, the three figures were still in the same spot, watching me run like they didn't even care.

I didn't let myself think about what had happened until I found a place to hide. I crawled into the rubble of a decrepit mausoleum and let it all out. Dirt and dust streaked me as I curled into a corner, shivering. Gabriel was gone. I was barely even thinking about that. More than anything, I was thinking about me. I was alone and afraid in a hellish, desolate Arena. I wished I had Gabriel's faith.

* * *

Gabriel Farad

 _Dick move, sneaking up on the_ deaf guy!

It must have been Beth. No one else would stoop that low. But she done screwed up. She did the job too well. I was going to die before she even got to me to rip me apart. I sent up a quick prayer as I went down, asking for protection for Delilah. I wasn't worried, though. The knife came from ahead of me, and she was behind me. As soon as my cannon sounded, and it would soon, she'd high tail it out of there. I wished her godspeed.

* * *

Junie Brett

I felt sick when the cannon boomed. Zombies didn't have cannons.

"Oh my god," I said. "That wasn't a zombie." The other figure, fleeing into the darkness, only proved it.

"I know," Ever said.

"What? What do you mean you know?" I asked. I was suddenly afraid I didn't want to know the answer. Ever crossed her arms.

"It was a human. I killed it. Maybe it was Beth. Maybe it was one of the little kids. I don't care," she said.

"How could you?" I asked. I knew it was a stupid thing to say. I couldn't figure out how to say what I felt. It all seemed so callous.

"It was coming closer. It was a threat. Even if it wasn't, it was competition," she said.

"Is that all any of us are to you? Competition?" I asked. Even as I condemned her, I was glad the odds had tipped in our favor. I looked to River for support. She looked down.

"She's right. It's has to be that way. Only one person goes home," she said. I looked back and forth between my allies, then at the prone body in the distance. I wanted to run to it and try to save it, even though the cannon's echoes had already faded. It wasn't right at all.

I didn't have anything to say against River's argument. It scared me to know how right she was. It scared me to be in such a dreadful, nightmarish Arena. I wanted to go home, even if that meant seventy other children died. I wanted to make it easier for them, and I realized the only way to balance those two goals. I wanted to help them, but I wanted to live, and that meant they had to die. I could ease their pain, and I knew I wouldn't be able to turn away if I heard someone who needed me, but I couldn't give them everything. I couldn't help the others live. I could only make it easier when they had to go.

* * *

 **44th place: Gabriel Farad- Knife thrown by Ever**

 **The people wanted more Tribute on Tribute killing, so I wrote some. I tried to treat Gabriel like anyone else and not have him die because of his deafness. He just happened to not see Ever. Gabriel was one of a few optimistic Tributes who are giving the Arena its only sliver of light. It's even darker in there now. Delilah's in for a rough time.**


	53. Ringu

**I didn't update yesterday for a very good reason: my old tv show channel was playing a marathon of Dark Shadows and I haven't been able to watch for eight months since Hulu removed the free episodes. Fun times were had by all, and by "all" I mean me.**

* * *

Eve Sable

It was like the Gamemakers had forgotten about me. I hadn't seen any of the mutts I could sometimes hear throughout the Arena. I hadn't even crossed paths with any other Tributes. I'd just been creeping between the graves snitching food and laying low. It was great, but I was afraid it wouldn't last much longer.

Something rustled ahead of me and I almost died with fright. Was it a horrible wolf monster or some pale-skinned humanlike thing that finally tracked me down? Maybe it was another Tribute, but that was hardly any better. Dead was dead.

It was a cat. A skinny black cat. Its yellow eyes shone in the moonlight as it sauntered across the row of gravestones I was walking down. It stopped and looked at me, and I got scared all over again. This wasn't an ordinary night in an ordinary part of Panem. Something as silly as a cat could kill me a million different ways. At least a werewolf wouldn't be so suspenseful.

The cat plunked down in my way and licked its paw nonchalantly. It washed itself behind one ear and looked back at me, like I was supposed to pet it. It had another think coming if that was the case. I wasn't getting anywhere near that likely hellbeast. The cat stretched itself out in an arc and stood back up.

"Meow," it said, and it continued on its way. I watched it go until it was out of sight. I was sure it was going to spring back at any minute and gobble me up, but it just traipsed away. It was only after it was gone that I remembered what they said about black cats crossing your paths. Just what I needed in an Arena like this. Bad luck.

* * *

Blaise Wesley

It was quiet the first night without Austin. He never said much anyway, but it was even quieter without him. Zach sat next to Jay around our fire. The other side of Jay was empty. Jay seemed to vibrate with energy, so much that the fire around him shimmered. He got up suddenly.

"Be right back. Nature calls," he said. "Don't wait up for me."

"Don't worry, we won't," Zach said. I was sure we all knew it was a sham. He wasn't going to the bathroom. He was going after something else. If he wanted to do it himself, that was okay. He was stronger than Beth on a normal day, and he was so mad nothing could have killed him this night.

It was quieter again after he left. We were all waiting to hear the cannon, even though he'd only been gone a few minutes. I was afraid we'd hear two, even though that didn't make any sense. We watched the flames flicker in the night.

"Anyone know any good campfire stories?" DeMarcus asked.

"I only know scary ones," Logan said with a wry smile.

"You're from Eleven. You should know some," DeMarcus said to Zach.

"What, we all sit around telling stories in Eleven?" Zach asked.

"There's no campfires in Three," DeMarcus said.

"I can tell you some Brer Rabbit stories," Zach offered sarcastically.

"What's Brer Rabbit?" I asked.

"He's from a bunch of stories old people tell to kids. He runs around playing tricks on people," Zach said.

"That sounds cool," I said. Anything that wasn't scary was fine by me.

"All right. Here goes. This one's called Brer Rabbit And the Terry-Pin..."

* * *

Willow Trill

My throat was scratchy and my stomach was making more noise than the Arena. Except for a single bottle of soda I found on some random grave, I hadn't eaten or drunk since before the Bloodbath. I didn't know what they expected me to do. There was nothing here for me to use. Unless I killed one of the bats that flew overhead, all I could do was starve.

I thought I was seeing things when I saw the well. I knew it was probably a Gamemaker trick, but if I didn't take the chance, I'd die anyway. There was probably a rotting corpse at the bottom polluting the water, but dysentery was better than dehydration. If I could buy myself a few more days, I might be able to find another soda bottle.

The stone sides of the well went up all the way to my stomach. As I leaned against it and grabbed the top, I jarred a pebble loose and it plopped into the water. I pulled myself up onto the stone lip and folded myself over the edge to see inside the well.

A pale hand dug its fingers into my face. Someone was already in the well. She was scrabbling at the rocks, trying to get out. Her hair was dark and it was plastered to her face, so I couldn't even see what she looked like. She said something, but her voice was metallic and distorted. As she tried to haul herself out, she yanked on me and pulled me into the well.

It was much deeper than it looked. I still wasn't dead when I hit the bottom.

* * *

Serena Hyland

The man was screaming again. I wished I knew what he was. Was he a mutt? Was he stuck somewhere with something tearing at him so he made those horrible noises? Was he not human at all- just some mockingbird creature that mimicked us at our worst? I wished he would stop.

It was hard to keep count of all the cannons. There were so many of them, and there were so many of us left. I didn't want to move from my shelter. I had dug myself a little hollow in the side of an open grave, deep enough that I couldn't see the surface if I squeezed in far enough.

I was afraid of what was outside, but I was also afraid of what was inside. I knew they'd want me to move, and they'd lose patience with me if I didn't give them more entertainment. I expected at any minute to feel a hand shove itself through the dirt and wrap around my ankle, or for the grave to collapse around me and bury me alive. I didn't think I'd last a minute if I left my hole, but I didn't know how long I had before it was too late to ever leave.

I hadn't thought it was possible to be this scared. I never stopped shaking and my heart ached with how hard it was beating. I closed my eyes and tried to go somewhere else. I pretended I was at home, in a nest made of blankets under my bed. There was nothing scary there. It wasn't cold and dark and the space around me wasn't full of things that screamed in the night.

The man screamed again, louder this time. The sound of it dragged me back to my dark pit. I put my hands in my ears and tried to go back.

* * *

 **43rd place: Willow Trill- gotten by a ghost**

 **I didn't want to kill all the people I forgot just because I forgot them, but I'm trying to clean house so I did kill Willow. She got a pretty raw deal, even by this Arena's standards, but at least it's over. The Gamemakers may have counted her out from the start, but she mattered and it's a tragedy that she died.**

 **I accidentally credit Eve for a Bloodbath POV and I didn't have Willow and Serena in my Tribute list for some reason, so I added them. Charlene was removed because her submitter wanted her to be in a normal Games instead.**

 **I got a suggestion that I include some more modern horror. The only reason I hadn't yet is because I haven't seen most of it because I've been watching older stuff first. I haven't seen Ringu but I know enough to add it. If there's something in particular you'd like to see you can suggest it.**


	54. Splinter

Torchy Conden

I never thought I'd see the day. If it wasn't for the cuckoo from Twelve who thought she could "reform" Beth and Jack, I'd be dead. But then, if it wasn't for me, Merle would be long dead, too. I never thought we'd come out even.

I still wasn't out of the woods. I was covered in black bruises and I felt like the Arena was on fire. Merle kept dabbing at my head with a wet strip of cloth and whenever I was awake she tried to get me to eat more garlic. I wished I'd known earlier garlic was some sort of miracle plant.

I tried to warn her when a shadow fell across her from behind, but I was too weak to so much as whisper. She saw where I was looking and turned around. Normally, I'd have thought the huge man behind her was some whacko in a costume, but here I knew he was the real deal.

 _That's it. Game over,_ I thought. Even if I wasn't almost dead, I couldn't fight a vampire. I hoped my germy blood poisoned him.

I expected Merle to faint, but she stood up and screamed. She was about an inch from the vampire when she did so, and he reeled back like she was attacking. I didn't know what he thought she was going to do. She was half his size. Then I saw he wasn't afraid, just disgusted. He covered his mouth and nose with his hands and bent over like he was going to heave.

 _Garlic._ Batty there didn't know he was about to get a face full of stench when he snuck up behind Merle. Both of us must have reeked to high heaven. There was a puff of smoke as he turned into a bat, and he flew away, chittering resentfully at us.

 _Great. I'm not going to die from a vampire. Just from the plague._

* * *

Logan Quinn

"I'm going to get some more wood for the fire," I said. Zach had just finished another of his stories. I was pretending they were immature for me, but secretly, I thought they were cool. Brer Rabbit was a stone cold fox. We could have used someone like him in the gang.

"I'll go, too. Don't split up and all that," Jake said. I might have been embarrassed back home, but here, I didn't need to be a hero. We headed toward the nearest tree, which was close enough we weren't even out of sight of the fire.

"Ow!" Jake said. He jerked his foot back.

"What is it?!" I almost yelled. If it was just a pebble, I was going to lose it on him. You couldn't startle people in an Arena like this.

"I stepped on that thing," Jake said. He pointed at a spiny little bundle of sticks on the ground. The wind caught the bundle and it drifted a few feet away.

"Ew, it's all itchy," Jake said. He rolled up his pants leg and rubbed at the area. I noticed something sticking out of his skin.

"Hold still. You got a splinter," I said. I yanked it out and Jake jumped.

"You could have warned a guy!" he said. Then he broke apart.

* * *

Jake Diaz

Something clawed through my from the inside. I could feel it pulling itself through my veins. It shot through me like I'd been dunked in water, but from the inside. It was sharp, like splinters of fiberglass. I would have torn out my own veins if I could have.

Logan was bent over me, trying to find out what was wrong. When the first black spike burst out of my leg, he backed away. My limbs moved independently of me, contorting and stretching backwards until they snapped and flopped freely. The black stuff inside me heated my blood until I thought I could feel it bubbling. My broken arms folded underneath me like a crab's legs. The black spikes inside me started to run, using my legs and arms. The stuff reached my brain.

* * *

Electra Magneta

I didn't know if a cattle prod worked against zombies. I was about to find out.

It was really our own fault for letting a zombie sneak up on us. Whether it was the crackling from our fire or our idle chatter, we didn't hear it until it was close enough to grab Emmeline. Then we couldn't run. We weren't going to leave her.

"Let go!" Des yelled at the zombie, who did not listen. She looked around for something to hit it with.

"Guys..." Apollo said. I took my eyes off Emmeline for a second and saw another zombie lumbering toward us from the other direction.

"I'll hold him off!" Apollo said. I turned back to Emmeline, who was remarkably calm about the entire affair. The zombie had her by the front of her shirt, but she wasn't giving up. She had pulled her arm inside her shirt and stuffed the empty sleeve into the zombie's mouth so it couldn't bite her. The zombie was trying to get a better grip on her, but I wasn't about to let that happen.

"Hey!" I yelled. I whacked it with my stick, only remembering at the last second that Emmeline was attached to the zombie. I barely got the switch off before I electrocuted them both. I whacked the zombie again and Gizmo grabbed its arm, trying to pry Emmeline free.

"DIE!"

It felt like an earthquake hit us all. The zombie crashed forward on top of Emmeline, who twisted her head away and closed her eyes as its blood and brains fell all over her. Gizmo was squished underneath all of us. When I looked up, I saw Des holding half a bloody tombstone.

"Did I get him?" she asked.

"You got him," Emmeline said as she wiggled out from underneath the mess. "Let's go!" she said to Apollo, who was throwing rocks at the far zombie. Even with Des, Scourge of Zombies, I didn't want another fight. We ran for the hills and left the zombie behind.

* * *

 **42nd place: Jake Diaz- killed by parasite mutt**

 **I don't watch much modern horror but I AM a huge Syfy fan. They played Splinter once and I liked it, so here it is. Not all chapters will reference horror, but the splinter monster is really cool. Looks like Jay picked a bad, or maybe good, time to leave his alliance (he's coming back, but he's still gone for now). So long to baseball player Jake. Heroes get remembered and legends never die.**


	55. The Thing

Apollo Wilson

I waited until we were getting ready for bed to tell anyone. I was too scared of what they'd do. I picked my listener carefully and made my move while we were on watch.

"Hey Emmeline? What do you know about zombies?" I asked.

"That they're not real. Guess I'm not doing too well," she said.

"What about when you get bit? Like, if someone got bit, is he _definitely_ going to turn into a zombie?" I asked. I'd never seen Emmeline look scared before. She always just sort of looked smart.

"You're infected," she said. I was afraid she'd wake everyone up right then.

"It's just my hand. See, barely even a cut," I said. I showed her the tiny mark where the zombie had gotten too close as I tried to hold it off. "Think it'll be okay?"

"I only know the stories," Emmeline said. She looked down and didn't say anything else.

"Are there any stories where they don't die?" I asked.

"Stories aren't important. We have to look at this rationally," she said. "If the germ is bloodborne, it's too late to do anything but wait and see. If it's flesh-borne, we can fix it."

"We should cut it off?" I asked. It didn't seem as scary as it should have. I could already imagine my arm full of zombie germs waiting to reach my brain. I wanted to get rid of it, even if it might be safe. I was scared of it.

"We don't have to be that drastic. We'd only have to cut it off if we needed it off quickly, like if it was in the blood. Since you didn't see fit to tell us, we've lost that option. We just need to kill the flesh before it spreads," she said.

"How are you going to do that? Burn it?" I asked.

"We're just going to starve it," she said. She took a roll of bandages from our supplies and tore a length off. She doubled it over to make it thicker and tied it around my arm, just above the wrist.

"Tighten this as _tight_ as you can," she said. "The flesh will die in a few days. If the infection spreads, it won't matter. When the others find out... we'll deal with it," she said. I was glad I'd told her. Anyone else would have freaked. I was pretty freaked myself.

* * *

DeMarcus King

" _We gotta go!"_ Logan streaked toward the campfire. The rest of us had just stood up when the thing he'd been running from shot out of the darkness.

It might have been Jake before. I could see something human in the tangle of limbs and black spikes. It couldn't have any bones, though, not the way it bent and lurched forward. There were too many joints, like a puppet. Logan ran past me as Blaise screamed. I was paralyzed for an instant, and then I started to follow.

Blaise screamed again, and the pitch of it spiked upward suddenly. I looked back and saw the thing had him by the leg. He was trying to crawl away from it, and his hands were reaching for me. I took hold of them and yanked. Blaise jerked free. At least most of him. His leg ended in a stump that oozed black, crackly liquid.

I tried to determine whether Blaise could still outrun the mutt. If it stopped to eat the part it already had, we might be able to make it. Blaise shuddered with pain. A black line raced up his stump, so fast it was just a flash of color. It reached his hand and kept going into me. I fell on top of Blaise as my insides were set on fire. I felt something stringy and splintered dragging itself through my veins liked barbed wire.

The mutt was on us. I hadn't felt him come. Things were shooting out of me and I wasn't sure if Blaise was yelling or I was, or maybe it was both of us. The mutt had more limbs now. I wondered if it would move faster.

* * *

Blaise Wesley

It was making us part of it. My entire body was turning black as the spikes jerked themselves out of me and the black ropy thing bent my bones until I was almost tied in a knot. I was cracking all over, like a whip. Even after I was dead, I was still part of the black thing.

* * *

Vera Busattil

My lungs labored to draw in a breath. I ached all over, and I felt so hot I didn't know how I wasn't burning away.

It was hard to think. I vaguely heard Frankie talking. He was looking up, like he was talking to someone who lived in the sky. He had his hands together, like he was begging for something. He sounded so agitated, so unlike his normal cold self. One of the sores covering me burst, leaking cold, sticky fluid across my chest.

Lyte was trying to save me, but he didn't know what to do. If he couldn't fix it, it wasn't curable. He could fix anything. Why did still hurt so much?

It was getting too hard to breathe. It took too much energy to fill my lungs. Something pressed down on my chest. I thought I was dying, but then breath flooded into me. My stringy heartbeat started to even out, even though my ribs ached.

"Stronger!" I heard someone yell. I saw Lyte slide off of me, even though I hadn't known he was even there. Another, heavier weight pressed onto me, and then there was air for me to breathe. I didn't have to keep working so hard. I let the air flow into me and concentrated my energy on staying alive.

* * *

 **41st place: Blaise Wesley- killed by parasite mutt**

 **I didn't want to keep bringing in mutts one time, having them kill one person, and then have them disappear forever. So this one killed more, in the ickiest way possible. I just thought maybe I should put something scary in, you know? Enough candy and teddy bears. I liked Blaise but he wasn't strong enough to win, so I had to stop wasting time and get things done. At least he had his friend with him, though he would have preferred not to.**

 **40th place: DeMarcus King- killed by parasite mutt**

 **Even brothers won't usually go that far. Logan ran for it, but DeMarcus wouldn't back down. He didn't know what he was going up against, but he knew he had to help Blaise. Send up a J-8 salute for the most dedicated brother of the bunch.**


	56. Halloween

**Here's an early update since I'll be busy tonight training as a CNA. Happy Halloween, even though I'm a fundementalist that actually doesn't celebrate it. I don't think it's a sin, though, so have fun.**

* * *

Reiner Ludwig

Lyte was finally asleep. It was more like he collapsed. When the fever was low enough that I could think, I could hear him racing between the victims, trying to help even though there was nothing to do. Frankie was sitting by Vera, ready to restart CPR if she stopped breathing again. Before Lyte curled up on the ground, he pleaded with the Gamemakers to just give him the plague, too.

I barely had enough strength to stand, but I didn't need to keep anything back. Vera didn't notice me moving, but Frankie looked up when I dragged myself to my feet. He looked at Lyte, then back at me, and didn't say anything. I lurched away from our camp out into the darkness.

I didn't have much time left. I was lucky Lyte didn't last longer. As soon as I was out of sight of our camp, I crumpled and started to crawl. I waited to hear the sound of some approaching mutt, and I wondered which it would be. Maybe one of those things in the sky, but we hadn't seen them since the Bloodbath. We'd heard something that sounded like a zombie. Or maybe a grave would just open up beneath me.

In the end, it wasn't a mutt after all. If I wasn't sick, I would have been strong enough to fight off Jack. But I didn't even want to try. He skewered me almost perfunctorily, like there wasn't any sport in it and it was just his job. I had stopped moving before he found me, so he didn't know which way I'd come from. I was glad to see he continued on diagonally to our camp. Maybe Lyte never had a chance, but hope sprung eternal. And he didn't fail me. The plague didn't kill me. I took care of it myself.

* * *

Jay Dallas

So many cannons. Good. I wanted someone to die. But I still hoped it wasn't Beth's cannon. I wanted her to die, but I wanted to do it myself. I'd been looking for her for hours. The Anthem could play at any time- it was impossible to tell when. I didn't know what I'd do if I saw her face.

I didn't know how long I looked. My legs ached and I was getting thirsty, so it must have been a while. I passed by two children tucked into one of the stone buildings. They looked terrified as I went past, but I wasn't out to kill anyone but Beth, and certainly not little kids.

I might not have found her if she hadn't been so noisy. When I heard the coughing coming from a mausoleum, I thought at first it must be someone else. It didn't seem possible for Beth, Scourge of the Arena, to have a cold.

It was so much worse than a cold. Beth didn't even get up when I went in next to her. She was curled up on the ground, hacking and panting. Each breath sounded wet and clogged, like a straw. She was covered in sores that oozed blood and fluid. She moved her head painfully to look at me.

"Come on over," she wheezed. "You'll catch your death."

I stood over her for a minute. It wasn't going to bring Austin back. I could tell myself it would avenge him, but this wasn't for him. He was dead. He didn't care if I avenged him. It wasn't going to stop the hurt to kill Beth, but I still wanted to do it. I wanted to watch her die.

I raised my sword above my head and brought down with both hands into her chest, like I was staking a vampire. Even a vampire couldn't help what it was. Beth was something worse. I didn't feel any better when I heard her cannon sound, but I didn't feel any guilt either.

The Anthem sounded not long after I killed her. I saw her face after all, but I was barely paying attention by then. The ones that came before it were so much worse.

* * *

Beth O'Darielle

What a pity. I wouldn't be able to kill anyone else. I could have set a record if that brat didn't shoot me full of germs from her disgusting spit. There's always next time.

* * *

Mouse Parentii

When Alice and I heard he the first cannon, we didn't know what to do. We heard more and more of them and knew something terrible was happening.

"We should go back," I said.

"What if it's happening there?" Alice asked.

"We should go help," I said.

"Silver would want us to stay away," Alice said. "We should wait until they come for us. We should find another angel. They'll know where to look."

One of the stone houses had an angel perched over its door. We hid inside and waited. A boy walked by and I was afraid it was Jack, but he kept moving, even though he saw us. They were taking so long. It couldn't have gotten them all. There weren't enough cannons.

"Alice? Mouse?" Peach called from outside. I poked my head out the door and saw her. She was carrying Inky piggyback. They were both all bloody. "I knew you'd be here. By the angel."

"What happened?" I asked as she set Inky down on the ground. "Where's everyone else?"

"They're dead," Peach said. Alice started to shake, and I could see Peach wished she had been gentler, even if it wasn't her nature.

"What happened?" I asked. I couldn't believe it, and the answer wasn't important. It couldn't really be true. Peach had to be wrong.

"Beth killed them all," Peach said. It looked like it wasn't any more real to her.

"Then you killed her, right?" I asked.

"No, she's still out there," Peach said. Alice made soft noises next to me. Peach didn't look scard like me and Alice. I hoped she wasn't faking.

* * *

 **39th place: Reiner Ludwig- Stabbed by Jack.**

 **I don't generally put much thought into Lyte because I want to focus on your characters, but I decided to give him a hard time this time around because he's generally pretty capable. He and Reiner were best buds, and Reiner would rather basically commit suicide by Jack than have the official cause of death be Black Death. I forgot Jack was still out there wreaking havoc, so it worked out. Reiner was strong enough to maybe win, but sometimes it takes luck, too. He wasn't lucky when it came to Black Death.**

 **38th place: Beth O'Darielle- Stabbed by Jay**

 **Jay's a classical sort of guy who would definitely go on a revenge quest. Turns out it didn't mean anything anyway, since what he really wanted was his brother back. I'm sure Beth would be happy to know she screwed him over in death as well as life. Our thanks to Beth for being one of like five Tributes actually looking to kill people.**


	57. For Whom The Bell Tolls

**Tariq Bluegrass-** Olivier Fowler

He really _was_ dying. If I'd had any idea, I never would have left him alone. _Alone._ He hated being alone. I should have stayed.

* * *

 **Anise Haefelle-** Peach Unk

She jumped right at Beth like it was nothing. That girl was a tiger. If her body had been as strong as her heart, none of us would have stood a chance.

* * *

 **Addie Child-** Mouse Parentii

How could it happen? Addie was so strong and brave. How did she not get up and fight Beth? If she could die that easily, there wasn't any hope for me and Alice.

* * *

 **Tawny Stallyon-** Inky Balboa

I could have listened to Tawny forever. She was like a living encyclopedia. There was so much I could have learned from her. We lost something priceless.

* * *

 **Silver Flower-** Alice Silvin

You go to a graveyard when you die. Was Silver still here? But she was an angel. Angels didn't die. Maybe I couldn't see her, but she was still here, and Anise too. They must be having fun flying around watching us. I'd do my best not to die, since that would upset them.

* * *

 **Alinta Fintan-** Sarla Mondins

I was afraid I'd see her. As long as there were other children as young as me, I could pretend I had a chance. All that was left now was Alice, but she had so many allies. I was all alone.

* * *

 **Felix Veaux-** Frankie Disney

I wasn't sad when people died, and Felix was no different. I was glad the competition was thinner and that he wouldn't have the chance to betray us, whatever choice he would have made. We could carry on without him.

* * *

 **Gabriel Farad-** Delilah Clementine

 _When the shadows of this life are gone,_

 _I'll fly away_

 _Like a bird from prison bars has flown_

 _I'll fly away_

* * *

 **Willow Trill-** Serena Hyland

They were coming for the little ones. I'd be next.

* * *

 **Jake Diaz-** Logan Quinn

Why'd it have to be Jake? He was so cool. He was supposed to be hitting home runs. Now he was some broken thing that still wanted to be part of our alliance. Why else would it keep chasing us?

* * *

 **DeMarcus King** \- Zach Connouis

Jay was going to be devastated. He would blame himself, even though he wasn't here. I wished I could have found him before the Anthem played.

* * *

 **Blaise Wesley-** Jay Dallas

They kept coming. By the end, I'd thought I'd see every one of my allies' faces in the sky. I didn't gain anything by killing Austin's murderer, but I left my allies open to attack. I'd only made it worse.

* * *

 **Reiner Ludwig-** Lyte Anderson

He just disappeared. I didn't even see the hovercraft take him. I would have thought I'd lost him somehow if Frankie didn't speak up.

"He went to look for something. A mutt got him. I heard it," he said. Why couldn't they let me get it too? They wanted me to be the brave little hero who cured the plague. I couldn't do it. I wanted Reiner back.

* * *

 **Beth O'Darielle-** Des Redwood

 _Ding dong the witch is dead._

* * *

Sarla Mondins

I was a tiny prey animal in an Arena of hunters. I couldn't afford to think about how scary it was or what I'd do to win. Every bit of my brain was taken up by trying to survive for one more minute.

I could die at any second. I almost went to get water from a well before a pale hand waved at me from inside. The boy with the machete passed me by as I hid behind a grave mere feet away from him. I couldn't let my guard down for a second. In the fleeting minutes when I found something like sleep, I hoped something would get me before I woke up so I wouldn't feel it.

I had one thing to keep me from going insane. I was working on a tunnel behind the back corner of one of the stone buildings. It wasn't safe for me to hide inside them, but no one would think to look underneath. For the first two days, I dug with my fingers. After that I found a shovel, and it was long enough now that I could crawl inside it like a coffin and peek out at the world.

For the first time since the Bloodbath, I got some real sleep. I was cold and stiff when I woke up. I scooted forward in my tunnel and looked out at the Arena through the edge of my hole. I'd dug it at an angle, so anyone looking would have to crouch to see far enough to reveal me.

Something had come while I was sleeping, but it didn't get me. When I poked my head closer to look outside, I almost bumped into a zombie. I pulled myself back in and huddled at the back of my hole, craning my neck to see outside.

The zombie didn't look like it saw me. It shuffled past my hole and revealed two more behind it. I didn't recognize any of them, but they all looked young. They were Tributes, like me. They were all around my hole, so close I could smell them. I cowered in my hole as they milled around aimlessly. If any of them saw me, there was nowhere to run.


	58. Return of the Living Dead

**I'm happy to say I got permission to put Calvary in her own story so she can be the Victor she should have been earlier. The same offer applies to Frankie.**

* * *

Arden Grake

 _So far, so good._ I hadn't run into any horrible monsters or calamities yet. Beth was dead, and things were looking up. I had plenty of supplies from the graves, and I hadn't seen the zombies in a long time. There was just one thing that bothered me. And that was the Grim Reaper following me.

I don't know how long he was there before I noticed. I just looked back and there he was, following me at a leisurely walk. At first I sprinted away from him, but he kept following just fast enough to keep me in sight. No matter what pace I took, he kept up with me, like he was waiting for the right moment. I tried yelling at him and shooing him, but he didn't seem to hear me. I couldn't even see his face under the black hood he wore. Initially I thought he was a mutt, but I was starting to think he was the real deal.

I was starting to get tired. I'd been walking for hours, maybe even a day. No matter how far I went, there he was. He seemed small for the Grim Reaper. I expected something more impressive. He tagged along for a few more hours as I tried to think of a way to shake him. There was nowhere to ditch him in this Arena. It didn't have trees or undergrowth. There was just the stones.

I about had a heart attack when he started sprinting. He burst into action out of nowhere like the bell had tolled and it had tolled for me. If there were any other mutts in the area I would have attracted them with my spastic run and wild cries, but my luck was the same as ever. The one time I needed a mutt, there was nothing there.

He almost didn't have to come get me. I was half dead with exhaustion and fear when he caught up. I threw a rock at him and he grunted in pain in a very non-Grim Reaper-like fashion. It didn't stop him from attacking, though. When I read stories, the Reaper's scythe always sounded so cool and foreboding. In real life, it was a terrible choice for his profession. It was much harder than it looked to kill someone with its short, curved blade. But he still got the job done. He was a very dedicated Grim Reaper.

* * *

Gizmo Torrens

 _All warfare is based on deception- Sun Tzu_

"Hey, what happened there?" I asked, pointing at the bandage on Apollo's arm. He jumped, then shrugged.

"That? Oh, I just tripped and scuffed it yesterday," he said.

"Looks awful pale. Is it too tight?" I asked.

"No! It's fine," Apollo said. He glanced randomly at Emmeline, who didn't notice.

"Okay. No worries," I said. Some men get so defensive when they get hurt. He didn't have to be so macho.

Now that Reiner and Felix were dead, we were probably the strongest alliance left. Certainly no one could challenge our numbers. Des and Apollo were formidable fighters and Emmeline, Electra and I could solve just about any problem between the three of us. I felt weaselly, but I had to balance plans for getting my alliance as far as possible with the ultimate plan to get me home.

I needed to find what set me apart from the others and work on that. I was smarter than Des and Apollo, not to toot my own horn. I was more resilient and more confident than Electra. I wasn't sure I was smarter than Emmeline. She was the most difficult to beat. In the end, I had only one advantage: I was more cunning. She knew how to make the gun. I knew where to aim it.

If we got to the end of the Games as a whole alliance, I wouldn't win. It would come to a melee, and the winner would be Des or Apollo. I needed our numbers to survive to the end, but I didn't need everyone. I needed the survivors to be the ones I could beat. The most dangerous were Des and Electra, since they stuck together and together they had strength _and_ intelligence. It would be best for my chances if one was to die. I wasn't ready to decide which, or even to decide I could go there, but the question would be asked eventually. I needed to know my answer.

* * *

Calista Corral

I was all alone. My allies were dead and I was alone in an Arena of horrors. I wandered around almost aimlessly, hoping to find a friendly face and knowing anyone I found would likely kill me.

I started to run forward when I saw someone ahead of me, but I stopped before I got far. I could tell from the pitched, zigzagging gait that it was just another zombie. It hadn't seen me, so I didn't have to be scared. I took a few steps closer to scope the situation out and there were a few more of them all stumbling around one of the buildings. Then I noticed the dirt was all disturbed by the building's edge. It looked like there was a tunnel under there.

I knew it was a stupid idea, but I wanted to see where it lead. It was probably the place where the zombies were made and released. If I could plug it, at least there wouldn't be any more. For once, my skills were about to come in handy.

"Hey! Zombies!" I called, throwing my voice so it landed far on the other side of the group. "Heeeey, zombies! I'm over here! I broke my leg and I can't walk! Can you please come help?"

The zombies swung around slowly and started to meander in the direction my voice seemed to be coming from. When they were safely out of range, I crept behind them to the tunnel. Something was coming out, and I got ready to run, assuming it was another zombie. But it wasn't. It was a girl. She saw me coming and ducked back into the hole.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked. She saw I wasn't going to leave and started coming back out.

"Oh, you're not one of the scary ones," she said.

"Neither are you," I said. "We should go before the zombies come back."

The girl didn't say I could stay with her, but she didn't run away as we left. Maybe we could be allies after all.

* * *

Frankie Disney

Vera's forehead was suddenly cool. I'd been by her side for hours, trying to will the life back into her. That was all we had left, since nobody had sent us any medicine and there was no way to fight something like this with leaves and bandages. I didn't feel the tearing in my heart normal people talked about when they lost someone, but I registered it in my mind, and I knew I'd mourn her in my own way.

"Frankie?" Vera whispered. I picked up an arrow and held it over her. It wasn't enough for the Capitol to take her again. They'd brought her back as a mutt.

" _What are you doing?!"_ Lyte smashed into me from the side and tried to wrestle the arrow away from me. I swatted him away easily and held him off. Through it all, Vera faintly stirred.

"She's not dead! Feel her heart!" Lyte yelled. It was a useless dream, but I humored him. I put my head to Vera's chest, hoping it wasn't a trap and that she wouldn't suddenly leap into action. I felt the vital movement inside her and let the arrow fall.

"She's not dead," I said. "Why is she cold?"

"Her fever broke. She's better," Lyte said. I hadn't seen him look so happy in days. He'd been starting to look like me. Vera opened her beautiful eyes and looked at me, though she couldn't focus well.

"Were you gonna stake me?" she asked, so quietly I almost couldn't hear.

"I thought you were dead," I said.

"Well don't start crying right away," Vera said, and she smiled. Even though I couldn't feel it, the world seemed like a better place now that Vera was back. And Lyte made up for both of us with his reaction.

* * *

 **37th place: Arden Grake- killed by Arter**

 **We're far enough into the Games now that I can start trimming people who aren't popular or strong enough to win in order to get down to the core that will drive the endgames. I enjoyed Arden's black humor and his unflappable Britishness in the face of dying twice. He may not be a Victor, but he's a good Tribute.**


	59. The Howling

Inky Balboa

I was sore all over. It felt like my lungs were full of tar and I could hardly breathe. But it wasn't as bad as it had been. I could move again, and it didn't take so much energy to open my eyes. I wasn't so hot anymore, but I still felt like one big bruise.

"Hey Inky, you feeling better?" Mouse yelled in my ear. I felt like I was hungover, not that I really knew what that felt like. His voice echoed like he'd banged a pot over my head.

"Not if you do that!" Peach said somewhere farther away. I sat up slowly.

"Do we have any water?" I asked.

"Only this gross bubbly stuff. Otherwise we have soda," Mouse said. I took the gross bubbly stuff and sipped it. It fizzled in my stomach and made me feel sick, but it stayed down.

"Did something happen to everyone else?" I asked. I thought I saw something come sometime a while ago, but it might have been a dream. I hoped it was.

"Beth," Alice said, and she shrank against the wall. We were in one of the buildings. We weren't there before. A lot must have happened.

"Has it been like a long time?" I asked.

"No, they just died yesterday," Mouse said.

"Glad to know you're already over it," Peach snarked.

"They're all dead," I said. "How many of us are left?"

"Thirty-four, I think," Peach said. I should have been happy the number was so much lower. But it made me sick to know the reason why.

* * *

Asper Fin

We still had so much farther to go. We hadn't even reached the starting point for a normal Games. It seemed arrogant to think I had any chance of survival. I was going to keep trying, but I felt like a salmon swimming upstream past dozens of hungry bears. What made me think I would be one of the lucky few to squeak by?

A wolf howled at the moon. Normally that would be scary, but here it was about the least scary noise I could have heard. Another one howled, then a whole chorus broke out. It was scarier when they stopped howling. I knew enough about the Hunger Games to know stuff was about to go down.

I looked around for a safe place. I was in the middle of a long stretch of plain gravestones. I couldn't even see any of the buildings. When I heard a steadily approaching chorus of yips, I ran the other way. I knew I'd never reach safety in time, but I had to try.

The closest thing I could find to safety was a towering marble gravestone about my height. It was obelisk-shaped and tapered at the top. I could see the pack approaching from behind as I got closer. I didn't think I was going to make it, but I kept going. They closed the distance between us so quickly I felt like I was standing still.

Somehow I reached the stone, and I jumped up onto it, flopping over it like a hairpin. I curled myself in and perched as high as I could on its slippery surface. The wolves circled around it, their silver pelts gleaming in the moonlight. They growled and snarled voraciously as they tried to jump up after me. There was something unnatural about how ferocious they were. Even though they looked like normal wolves, their attitude betrayed them as mutts.

They weren't tall enough to jump onto the grave, but they were tall enough to grab me by the legs and drag me down. They were much heavier than they looked, and they piled onto me like a unit. I never knew teeth so blunt could hurt so much. I knew I didn't have much chance. There was no more denying it.

* * *

Wyatt Sparks

"Do you think either of us will ever win?"

It was something most of us had thought at some point. I still had so much to do before I was ready to die. I was only a kid, even if I'd been around for decades. Even when we were in the Games, what we mostly thought about was normal life.

"Maybe you. You're at least fast. I'm just funny. Unless the Arena is a clown car," I said.

"We still wouldn't have a normal life if we won," Dominique mused. "I could be covered in jewels and have a dozen men on my arm, but maybe all I ever wanted was to be a plumber."

"Guess that's a pipe dream," I said. Some people thought I was witty, but jokes just sort of came to me. It was hardly something I could brag about. Dominique suddenly gasped and stood up.

"Someone's there!" she said. She pointed behind us and I looked.

"It's only one- oh," I said. It was only one, all right. But it was Machete Boy himself. Jack didn't need anyone else to be a threat.

"Too bad we can't stay!" I yelled as we both fled. Dominique pulled out ahead, naturally, but I was glad. When I looked back, Jack was still walking, but then he broke into a forward-leaning, inexorable run. He didn't look like he was going very fast, but he looked like he could go on forever.

Someone in the Capitol had a sick mind. Jack was wearing a mask like something out of a campfire story. It blocked his face so it looked like some lifeless husk was chasing out straight out of Hell. Someone paid money to send Jack something just so he would look scarier.

I didn't know how he kept getting closer. Maybe I was slowing down. Dominique was certainly getting farther ahead of me. I looked at her, then turned back in time to see a rock flying toward my head. It smashed into me and I went sprawling on the ground.

As I was trying to get up, Jack reached me. He looked taller up close, like something inhuman and hulking. He raised his machete with both hands and started to bring it down. I hoped Dominique kept running and didn't look back until it was too late.

* * *

Elara Angelo

"Hey!"

"You scared or what?"

"Want to see what color you are inside?"  
"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

I never knew "noisy ghost" was so dang _literal._ It had mostly stopped throwing rocks at me, but it still pinched me every few minutes. One time it tried to push me over, and I almost fell backwards trying to shove it back.

"What do you even want?" I finally asked. "Don't you have something to do?"

"I'm a _poltergeist._ I scare people," it said.

"Well you're doing a crappy job," I said.

" _You're_ doing a crappy job. People are supposed to be scared of ghosts," it said. It struck me then how ridiculous the whole situation was. Usually mutts killed you. They didn't mux at you.

"If you were scary, I'd be scared," I said. The ghost pulled my hair and I swatted at it.

"See, is that the best you can do? Ooooh, I'm so scared, you pulled my hair," I said.

"The other boys were scared of me," the ghost pouted.

"So how'd you die, anyway?" I asked. I would have guessed it was a mutt, but maybe I was dealing with the real deal and it wandered into the Arena because it felt like home.

"I don't know," it said. "But it sure is boring."

I did the natural thing for such a situation. I found a patch of dirt and drew a three-by-three grid with a stick. An X drew itself in the center square.

"Best of three," I challenged.

* * *

 **36th place: Asper Fin- eaten by wolves**

 **That's about as close as you can get to a natural death in this Arena. With so many Tributes, deaths are coming fast, and Asper was vulnerable by himself. There was no one thing about him that made him seem like a Victor to me, so I cleaned him out with the other superfluous Tributes. It was good to have him, but I have to keep cutting.**

 **35th place: Wyatt Sparks- stabbed by Jack**

 **Wyatt wasn't strong enough to win. He was a cool character so I kept him around, but he had to go eventually. He couldn't run as fast as Dominique, and that did him in. He was a great guy and would have been cool to know in real life. That just doesn't win the Games.**


	60. Scars of Dracula

Zetan Thompson

It was slow going, but by pure endurance, we were getting rid of the zombies. If they counted as kills, Vextrix must have set a record. There were so many dead (dead-er?) zombies piled around our building that I was worried the others would be able to climb up them and get us. Castiel smashed one final mutt over the head with his plaster lump and it looked like we were in the clear.

"Is that all of them?" Vextrix asked.

"I think so," I said.

"Can we go anyway? They're giving me the creeps," Kerry said, looking down at the pile of massacred zombies.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," I said. We hopped off the building, one at a time. Castiel landed on one of the zombies and the pressure made it groan, which made us all flinch. I was almost as glad as Kerry to leave the grisly scene behind.

"Do we have a plan, or are we just wandering?" Castiel asked.

"We should find somewhere with no zombies and try to find out where the others are," I said.

"We should keep our eyes out. Vera's or Des's alliance might attack, since we're a threat," Vextrix said.

The next few hours went uneventfully. We didn't see any other Tributes, and only a single zombie wandered by far in the distance. We hid behind one of the buildings until it left.

"Hey, a bat. I love bats!" Kerry said when one flew by.

"Don't be too hasty," Vextrix said. It was almost prophetic. The bat circled over us and swooped down close to the ground. It almost touched Kerry, who had gone out a step to see it. He laughed and turned around.

"Did you guys see that?" he asked. We saw it. We also saw it turn into a man and pick him up by the collar.

* * *

Kerry Samosa

 _Don't be too hasty._

I didn't expect it to turn into a _vampire._ Mutts didn't usually look like people. It didn't fit the Capitol aesthetic. But there he was, holding me like a kitten and examining me like a gourmet. I was too scared to even scream. It was something from a old movie. It couldn't be real. None of it could be real.

I heard a scuffle as Zetan fled. Vextrix retreated but kept watching, her spear up and ready to fight back if it got closer. I couldn't wrap my head around how unnatural the mutt was. It looked human and it seemed intelligent, but somehow I knew it wasn't really human. It had never really _been_ human. It was something made in a Capitol lab, maybe with DNA, maybe just with nuts and volts. Where did its intelligence come from if it wasn't really alive? Was it enjoying this? Had they made something self-aware, some sort of artificial life? They'd sealed their own fate if they had. They couldn't control this thing.

The vampire grabbed my face with its free hand and pulled my head back to expose my neck. I tried to push away from it, but it was like pushing against a wall. It hauled me in inexorably, until I could smell the death wafting from it. It opened its mouth to bite, but it never got that far. It dropped me and reared back with a cry that sounded like it was in pain. I couldn't figure out why for a second, but then I saw what was standing between us.

Castiel was right up in the vampire's face, holding up his cross in front of him. He didn't even look scared. He looked like there was nothing to be scared of. The vampire stepped back and tried to keep going. He tripped over a gravestone and fell on his back. The Capitol couldn't fake a reaction like that. Alive or not, he was truly scared. He held up both arms like a shield and tried to squirm away, like something was stopping him from getting up.

Castiel knelt across the vampire's chest and raised the cross over his head. The vampire screamed and covered his face with his hands, turning away as smoke started to arise from him. Castiel wrapped his fingers around the cross and shoved it down into the vampire's chest. It arched its back so violently Castiel was almost thrown off, and it shrieked like the snapping of a violin string. Its skin started to bubble and melt off its frame, and all at once, it collapsed in on itself, and there was nothing left under Castiel but a pile of dust.

* * *

Castiel Wickham

The demon was gone. I didn't know if it was orthodox to use a cross as a weapon, but God understood the circumstances. It wasn't the wood, anyway. It was what it represented.

"You... it's... how?" Kerry asked after he half-crawled over next to me.

"Anyone could have done it," I said.

"That was incredible," Vextrix said. I hadn't even noticed her approaching. Lucky thing she wasn't another mutt.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked. "Where's Zetan?"

"He ran for it. He's somewhere nearby," Vextrix said. She looked around over us.

"Hey!" she called. "It's okay. He's gone." A shadow fell across us as someone approached.

"I'm sorry. I left you," Zetan said. His breath was short and his cheeks were still red.

"It's okay. It happens," I said. We were all scared. People react differently when things like that happen. We couldn't blame him for his instincts.

"It's cool. Castiel killed it. Like a _maniac,"_ Kerry said. I noticed Vextrix was looking at me differently. I knew before she thought I was a pacifist at best and a weakling at worst. I just hoped now she didn't think I was a threat.

"Castiel Wickham, vampire slayer," Kerry said. It sounded pretty cool.

* * *

 **So ends the reign of the dreaded Arena vampire. I am sorry to see him go because he was hot, but all good things come to an end.**


	61. Don't Look Now

Zach Connouis

It all happened so fast. One minute I was swapping stories with my buddies around a campfire. Then they were gone, all in a blink. I had no idea where Jay was, or whether the mutt that was DeMarcus, Jake, and Blaise was still following me. Everything changed that quickly. Everything I had was gone that quickly.

I couldn't hear the mutt chasing me. It might not be able to catch me with the tangle of body parts and meat that passed for limbs. It couldn't run so much as creep along the ground like a spider. I was afraid that as I looked behind me, I wouldn't be able to see it past the gravestones. It could sneak up on me, just like a spider.

When I saw someone far off in the distance, I started running toward it. I didn't care who it was. Even an enemy deserved to be warned about that thing. As I got closer, I saw it was a male. When I saw the sword, I couldn't believe my luck. It had to be Jay. I called to him and waved my arm. He started to approach. Without all our allies, he wouldn't have recognized me unless I spoke up.

It was so dark I couldn't see his face until I was right in front of him. When I saw the face, it wasn't Jay at all. The blade rising up in front of me was a machete, not a sword. I slammed to a stop and scampered back a step, putting up my arm to protect my face. Jake's strike sank deep into the flesh above my wrist and cleaved into the flesh until it hit bone. He wrenched it down as he yanked it out to do even more damage. Adrenaline and shock kept me from feeling most of the pain, and I punched him right in the face with my unhurt arm. He took a step back and I shoved him back farther.

I didn't want to get into a fight with him. I was bigger, but he had a longer, more dangerous reach. I grabbed his machete arm with my good one and pushed it toward him, hoping I could knock him backwards and run while he was getting up. He grabbed the blunt side of the blade with his other hand and swiveled it, pushing up at the same time. The blade slashed across my face, tearing my cheek open and revealing all the teeth on one side. I barely had the presence of mind to yank my head back when Jack tried to push the blade into my eye. He reached around behind my head and shoved it forward. The knife nearly removed my head from my shoulders entirely. It was up to Jay and Logan now.

* * *

River Summers

I was scared. Junie was scared. Ever was scared. None of us could hide it anymore. We tried to support each other, but it was straining us near the breaking point. Another cannon sounded, and we all jumped. Junie looked like she was trying not to cry, but I was learning not to underestimate her.

"I'm going to get some firewood," I said. I wanted fresh air more than anything else, but wood was always helpful. Fire didn't seem to attract the zombies, and we were a large enough alliance to risk it.

The few scraggly trees in the Arena were supplemented by the straw baskets we sometimes found on graves. I gathered a handful of fuel, and it only reminded me of how beautiful and endless the trees were back home. I wasn't ever going to be the same, even if I got home. I'd learned so much. It probably made me wiser, but I wished I could have stayed ignorant.

Ever was in the doorway of our camp as I walked back. I heard a noise and looked to one side, but it was just a falling twig. When I looked back, she was bringing her arm forward to throw. I threw myself flat on the ground and the knife flew over my head. I sprang up and sprinted the last bit to her before she could throw again. I smashed into her and knocked her flat on the stone floor of our camp. Junie screamed and jumped up.

"You tried to kill me!" I yelled as I wrestled with her, grabbing her hands when she tried to get another knife.

"I thought you were a zombie!" she said.

"How? A zombie carrying sticks? You saw a chance and took it," I said. I slammed my forehead into her nose and her skull smacked against the stone floor. As she was dazed, I pulled a knife from her belt and stuck it into her stomach.

"Stop it!" Junie yelled. She yanked me off Ever and I slid to the floor. Ever lay where I'd left her, panting for breath and grabbing at the knife in her chest. Junie knelt by her and removed the knife, pressing on the wound after.

"Don't waste your time," I said. I should have known she'd try it. Another little accident, like the one before with Gabriel. She thought he was a zombie, too. So she threw a knife at his _throat._ Another little accident and she'd be alone with Junie, the medic who wouldn't suspect her ally until it was too late.

I tried to support my allies. I knew we couldn't get through this unless we were there for each other. Alone in an Arena like this, I'd die of fright. I didn't know what I needed to be afraid of was beside me all along.

* * *

Alice Silvin

"What do angels do when they're not working?" I asked Mouse. We were up late, if it was actually "late". We were all trying to sleep, anyway.

"I dunno. Play harps and stuff," Mouse said. He had his arms folded behind his head as we lay on the ground.

"Think they have houses, or do they all live together?" I asked.

"I hope they get their own houses," Mouse said. Anise and Silver might like to live together, though. They were friends. They probably had the same office, or whatever angels had to work in, since the worked in the same area. I didn't know why they had to go back when they did, but I was glad they got to be in Heaven again. It beat staying here.

"I bet they have lots of candy in Heaven," I said.

"Yeah, and ice cream and toys," Mouse said. I held my deer to my chest and snuggled him. Really, I got two tokens. Mouse said the ring was his. In the Capitol, no one thought it was weird that a boy wore a plastic ring. He didn't have a token anymore, but he said a fair lady was the greatest of tokens.

I tried to think back, but I didn't remember what Heaven was like. Maybe it was so good I had to forget or I wouldn't be able to enjoy Earth at all. I wondered how many other children were there from Hunger Games. Maybe they had their own little town. The Loser's Village. I was sure all kids went to Heaven, and that probably counted even if they were eighteen. I wasn't sure about the rules, and I didn't want to make any judgements, but I suspected maybe Galba wasn't there. If she got in somehow, they probably kept her separate from the Loser's Village.

"I hope there's an ocean. I always wanted to see an ocean," Mouse said.

"I bet there is. Or maybe you can visit Earth if an angel takes you. People just wouldn't be able to see you," I said.

"I bet Anise would," Mouse said.

"You think we have to have jobs? They have jobs," I said.

"They're angels, though," Mouse said. "And they can't let us work. We're only twelve."

That made sense. Kids were supposed to be kids, especially in Heaven. I wouldn't get older up there, but if I did ever have a job, I hoped they let me be guardian angel for the deer. But this was Heaven we were talking about. Of course they'd let me pick.

* * *

 **34th place: Zach Connouis- stabbed by Jake**

 **I happen to know Zach's submitter prefers Jay to his other characters, so I make sure to save Jay for last if they all end up dying. Zach was closer to the end because I like him. He's a cool best friend sort of guy. Lots of Tributes are complex, which is good, but Zach's just an easygoing, cool dude. He deserved better.**


	62. Open Graves

**Yeah, it was totally Jack, not Jake, with the machete. I have a Jack, a Jake, a Zach, and a Jay. I'm just lucky I don't actually have a Jason, even if I keep calling Jack that.**

* * *

Emmeline Blythe

Apollo wasn't showing any symptoms yet. It was a little difficult to tell, since he was naturally a meathead, but it didn't seem to be getting worse. There was no sign of inflamed or discolored tissue above the bandage. The part that was hard to explain was his black, dead arm _below_ the bandage.

"Dude, you sure that's not too tight?" Gizmo said. "It's turning black."

"It's dead," I said. There was no more hiding it.

"You killed his arm?" Gizmo said.

"There was damage to the tissue. I didn't want an infection to turn septic," I said.

"It's okay. I have another one," Apollo said.

"No way! Lemme see," Des said. She leaned over and peered at the dark appendage. "Yeah that's dead all right."

"You should try taking the bandage off anyway," Electra said.

"Too late," Des said. Apollo awkwardly took off the bandage. His arm dangled limply like a stick. I was just glad they were asking why he let it happen and not how he got hurt in the first place.

"Ew, it's gonna fall off," Des said.

"It might not. It's held on by bone. It'll just stay there rotting until the rest gets infected," Gizmo said.

"Wait, what was that about getting infected?" Apollo said. He looked nervously at me.

"It won't if we get it off," I said.

"Well let's get it off then!" Apollo said. Gizmo and I shared a sick look.

"That doesn't look good," Apollo said. Gizmo took one for the team.

"We're going to have to break the bone."

* * *

Eve Sable

When I saw another girl picking supplies off graves, I ducked out of sight to watch. I wanted to find out if she was part of another alliance and see who else might be in the area. If there were many more Tributes around, I'd keep moving. I kept a safe distance as I tailed her. Eventually I got close enough to see the girl had olive skin and she was terribly thin. I didn't remember all the Tributes, but Merle stuck out. She was so spacey, thinking she could "cure" Beth and her friends. She must have realized and split away from them during the Bloodbath. It was the only way she could still be alive.

Once I knew it was Merle, I got a little closer. I knew she wouldn't attack, and I wouldn't mind having her nearby. She would probably try to help if I got hurt. She was like that. I followed her to one of the grave houses. I walked up next to the stone building and knocked on the wall.

"Merle?" I asked. There was a blur of movement and someone's frame filled the doorway from around the corner. I only caught a glimpse before the front of my body exploded in pain. I felt my flesh tear and buckle, and then it ached as my entire weight was supported by the machete that ran through me.

"What are you doing?" I heard Merle yell from inside.

"Maybe I didn't kill you, but I'm no angel," the boy on the other side of the machete said. "Get used to it. It's the only way to stay alive, doctor."

"Get off her!" Merle said. She shoved the boy and he let the machete fall. I fell back with it still in me and I screamed as my weight slid me down its blade.

"Grow up. This is how things are in here," the boy said. My chest felt like it was collapsing on itself. I tried weakly to push the blade out of me. Merle took my hands.

"You'll make it bleed more," she said. She pressed down on the wound with both hands, but I knew it wasn't going to save me. Even if she could keep the blood in, I was all torn up inside. It hurt so much I thought I was breaking apart.

"I'm sorry," Merle said. But it wasn't her fault. And the boy who did it wasn't sorry at all.

* * *

Olivier Fowler

I never really stopped to think about the mutts. The Capitol made entirely new types of life out of nothing. They knitted together genes and matter and made things out of storybooks. With that kind of technology, they could make enough food for everyone in Panem. People in Eleven didn't have to be hungry. They could make magic, but they wouldn't. Not for us.

That's what it really was. It was magic that happened in Capitol labs. Not the little things I did with cards and handkerchiefs. Powerful, ancient magic- the sort of thing people in ancient times would have needed a Philosopher's Stone for. This was the sort of magic you found in a dusty old tome covered in arcane symbols and words written in blood.

Most of all, it was black magic. It was dark, murderous magic that brought things into the world that never should have been summoned. The Gamemakers must have given pieces of their souls to make things like this possible. And once they started, they just lost more and more. That's why they were so cruel. It went on and on.

Magic was always a game to me. I didn't know it was real. Witches and wizards were things out of books. Now that I knew how things really were, I wanted to be a part of it. I'd lost faith in my tricks, and I'd lost my hope for us all when Tariq died again. It didn't seem like there was anything to live for, or anything I could do to change my fate. Now I had a reason to win.

I wanted to be one of them. If I won, I wanted my talent to be the magic they did behind closed doors. If I still had any soul left when I got out, I'd do white magic and try to work against them. And if every bit was gone, or the only bit of soul left was just enough to buy my way in, then let me be a black magician. Magicians rule Panem, and the one thing I know is magic.

* * *

Serena Hyland

I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave. I knew they'd come for me, but I didn't have the courage. I'd rather die cowering in my hole than go out and walk toward whatever death they had planned for me. I wasn't strong enough. I wished they'd hurry up and do it so I wouldn't have to be keep being scared.

The ground around me had been getting wetter. It was turning to mud underneath me. It stained my clothes and stuck to my hands. I knew it was a message. If I didn't leave soon, the dirt would collapse around me and bury me alive. It was the worst way I could think of to die, but it still didn't give me the courage to move. I was too scared to move away from what scared me. I wanted to stay still and let the world keep running outside my grave.

Someone was coming. The footsteps reverberated around me in the dirt. People had come by before. At least I hoped they were people. No one had bothered to look inside an empty grave before. I hoped that would be the case again. Part of me hoped it wouldn't be the case, and someone would kill me quick before I died suffocated under a coffin of mud.

It wasn't a person after all. It was death. Death had come for me. I didn't even know when it had happened. Maybe I had already suffocated, but then I didn't know how I could see him standing at the edge of the grave. I knew it was Death. His clothes were long and dark, and his scythe glittered over his shoulder in the moonlight. He wasn't holding it, though. It was strapped to his back. I didn't know why he had to drag it out so long.

I poked my head out of the shallow pit I'd dug into the side of my grave and looked up at him. Once he was there, I wasn't as afraid. It was almost over. He waited until I was entirely exposed in the grave before he acted. He was standing beside the marker of the grave I was in. It was tall and thin, carved out of some gray stone. He put his hands behind it and shoved. The mud underneath the stone slid down into the grave and the stone tipped. It toppled forward and fell into the grave with me. I thought it would smash me right away, but the dirt was soft enough that I was pressed into it. My head was crushed between the stone and the mud oozed up around me. It was too heavy to push aside, and it forced my broken skull down until I couldn't see Death anymore. There was no air down there. Only more death.

* * *

 **33rd place: Eve Sable- Machete by Torchy**

 **I wanted Torchy to kill someone to show he hadn't magically been cured by Merle's goodness. Eve wasn't strong enough to win on her own in this crowd. She was strong enough to get this far, but that's it. In a normal Games she could have won, but there are just so many strong contenders this time. She got unlucky and didn't know Merle was still with Torchy. It could have happened to anyone.**

 **32nd place: Serena Hyland- Crushed and smothered by grave toppled by Arter**

 **Serena was always easily scared. In this Arena, she just didn't have a chance. Not everyone overcomes their fears heroically. It wasn't exactly cowardly for her to be afraid, either. She was a small girl in an Arena that would give Vera chills. The best she had to hope for was an easy death. Drowning's not the best, but it's not the worst.**


	63. Coma

Desiree Redwood

It was only one girl coming toward us, and she obviously wasn't a zombie. Beth was dead, so we weren't scared. She couldn't have attacked us all together anyway. The girl stopped thirty feet away and called out to us.

"Can I come closer?" she asked.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"It's Dominique. My ally's dead. I don't want to be alone. I know you guys are friendly," she said.

I turned to the others. We all looked at each other silently, not wanting to be the first to say what was on all our minds. I remembered Dominique in training. She was a sweet girl. But if she was with us, she had a better chance of survival. If she had a better chance, we had a worse chance.

"Hold on a few minutes! We're discussing it," I called. We sat in a circle and conversed in low tones.

"What do you all think?" Apollo said.

"We should vote on it," Electra said.

"We have a few options," Gizmo said. "We can let her in, or we can kill her."  
" _What?"_ Apollo said. "Where did that come from?"

"It's an option. We have to remember our situation," Emmeline said.

"I don't want to die again," Electra said, and she looked down at her lap. Apollo said nothing. He could have warned Dominique right then, but he stayed seated.

"Let's just vote on whether or not we let her in. We can decide what to do after that," I said. There were a few more minutes of discussion, and then the lots were cast.

* * *

Dominique Rindelle

They sat there a long time before one boy got up. I thought they'd all come, but the others stayed. The boy shook my hand formally.

"We decided you're in. I'm Gizmo. Let's go meet the others," he said. He seemed very cold about it, like he'd been outvoted. If I wasn't welcome, I wouldn't overstay their patience. It would be wonderful to not be alone even for a day. I didn't want to make trouble for them, but if the ones that didn't agree with Gizmo wanted to separate and stay with me, that would be amazing. Otherwise, I'd play it by ear and be ready to leave.

We passed underneath a bare tree. One of its branches snagged in my hair and bent my head back. A thorn scraped at my neck. Then it dragged in deeper, and I realized it was a knife, a knife scraping across my throat and slitting it open. There was a jagged, pinching pain, and I pressed my hands to my neck as blood oozed through my fingers.

Gizmo couldn't wait. It didn't matter what the vote was. It only took one. One vote, and they took my future.

* * *

Gizmo Torrens

 _The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting-_ Sun Tzu

"And how do you plan to do it? Whack her in the middle of the night with this?" Des asked, hefting the battleaxe she'd been sponsored.

"I don't want to do it," Apollo said.

"If you want to win, you'll have to kill eventually," Emmeline said. He started to say something, but couldn't continue it. Electra and Des looked at each other but didn't say anything. It didn't matter that they were friends. They had to decide this on their own.

We went around and cast our votes, one after another. Ally. Kill. Kill. Ally. Kill.

"Does anyone want to change?" I asked. No one spoke up.

"Then next-" Emmeline started.

"I'll do it," I said.

"That was quick," Apollo said darkly.

"We killed her together. I'm just the weapon. I wanted it to be someone who wouldn't tip her off," I said. That was me or Emmeline. I was bigger than she was. It was the correct selection.

I'd seen Dominique training. If she started running, I'd never catch her. I waited until we were under a tree, so she'd think my hand tipping her head back was a stray branch. It was almost as quick as she was.

* * *

Junie Brett

Ever was hovering between life and death. I'd bandaged the wound and I was monitoring her breathing. The knife had penetrated her lung and I was afraid she'd aspirate blood if I left her alone. Her legs were elevated so her limited supply of blood stayed in her vital areas.

In my heart I knew River was right. I wanted to assume the best of people, so I hadn't questioned it when Ever said she thought the boy was a zombie that night. I didn't look where she threw the knife because I didn't want to know. But I'd seen the zombies. They didn't want straight and even, like River. They were rotten and broken, not beautiful like she was. Even from a distance, there was no mistaking them. Not with an eye like Ever's.

River wasn't inside with us. She'd gone out to collect herself, and I didn't blame her. If she'd stayed, she might have done something she'd regret.

I went through our scant selection of first aid supplies. River grabbed a first aid kit back in the Bloodbath. It had bandages and antiseptic, both of which I'd already applied. There were sutures, tweezers, and a pair of scissors. The only actual medication was a bottle of pain pills.

I was nervous waiting for River to come back. When she did, I knew she'd want to discuss killing Ever. She was a threat. We couldn't trust someone who'd tried to kill us. And I didn't know what I'd say. I wanted to care for people, but if I did cure Ever, she'd kill again. She'd only balance out my good deed and put as much death back into the world as I took out. If I was going to die, I wanted someone to win who deserved it. Someone innocent, like the little kids in the one alliance. I wanted to help them, not murderers.

 _I wanted to make the Arena easier for them._ That didn't necessarily mean they'd live. All but one would die no matter what I did. Maybe it meant making death easier. If there was no hope, the merciful thing to do might be to stay with them and ease them into the next world. I looked down at Ever. I didn't wish evil on her, even after what she did. I just wanted her to stop hurting.

I screwed off the lid of the bottle of pills. They'd ease Ever's pain. She'd never hurt again. I gave her two and she took them gratefully. It was only double the recommended dose. She wouldn't have believed me if I'd offered more. But it was enough to put her to sleep. I knew from my studies how to induce the swallow reflex. The rest of the pills went down as easy as a whisper. And when the cannon came, it was just as quiet.

* * *

 **31st place: Dominique Rindelle- Throat slit by Gizmo**

 **Dominique was an extrovert. She wasn't lost without an ally, but it was preferable, and it was much worse in this Arena. Her skills in running gave her a huge advantage among these mutts, but human enemies are crafty. She couldn't outrun death this time. I left the votes unwritten so no submitter's chances would be hurt by a development not in their forms.**

 **30th place: Ever Fellows- Overdosed by Junie**

 **Ever seemed more a catalyst to Junie and River than a contender by herself. Not that she wasn't strong enough, because she was very skilled. She was also more ambitious than her allies and the only one to really see what it took the win the Games. She was trying to survive, but it didn't work out for her.**

 **Junie hasn't developed into an Angel of Death in general. She's still a nurse at heart. In this individual case, she made a tough call.**


	64. The Seventh Seal

**Mostly this is just cannons. I added Nine because I didn't notice they were all dead (unless I missed someone, so don't panic if you had someone from Nine and they're alive) and I added a POV so it wouldn't be too short.**

* * *

 **Chimera Ilium**

We had so many chances this year. Couldn't just one of them have come home? I was tired of watching them die. If we had just one Victor, I could focus on my real job. I was supposed to make things fabulous, not prepare children for funerals. This was no place for a party planner.

 **District Nine**

Tariq's family had their money. They never cared about what happened the second time. Miller's family wailed and carried on again and had another feast in his honor. Cooper's family had been without him so long the wounds had healed and they just quietly paid their respects. Lisbeth's family was the strangest. They were as crafty as she was, and they were only disappointed she hadn't seen it through farther.

* * *

 **Arden Grake-** Apollo Wilson

 _No way, that guy died? He seemed so smart. He was always making jokes that went way over my head. I hadn't thought of him since the Bloodbath._

* * *

 **Asper Fin-** Junie Brett

He was from home. It must be nice to be back there again.

* * *

 **Wyatt Sparks-** Emmeline Sparks

He wasn't like most people from Three. Not everyone can be mechanically gifted. He seemed nice anyway.

* * *

 **Zach Connouis-** Jay Dallas

I'd been sprinting through the Arena, looking for the one person left I cared about. When saw his face, I didn't have to run anymore.

* * *

 **Eve Sable-** Calista Corral

Just me, Delilah, and Castiel from Ten. Our chances didn't look good.

* * *

 **Serena Hyland-** Mouse Parentii

She should have joined with us. Peach would have kept her safe. When we were the only three left, Peach would have to fight the Gamemakers instead.

* * *

 **Dominique Rindelle-** Apollo Wilson

It didn't matter what I voted. She died because of three votes, not one. I couldn't have changed it either way. So it didn't matter.

* * *

 **Ever Fellows-** River Summers

By now Junie would be realizing I wasn't coming back. I couldn't trust Ever, and I didn't want to see her betray Junie. I'd hoped Junie wouldn't be able to save her, and at least she'd have a chance. For once, Ever did right by me.

* * *

Arter Wire

A long time ago, I was afraid of death. Now that I knew what I was, I didn't want to leave the graveyard. It was home- I belonged there. I loved how cold and empty it was. There was no life there to mar its peace. I didn't care for the bodies I occasionally saw that were still walking around, but at least they had the civility to be dead.

I was getting closer to exterminating the unfortunate infestation I'd noticed in my home. This was a place of death, but a few specimens of life had infected it. There were more before, but I was working on it. They knew it was wrong for them to be here. They always ran when they saw me.

The Arena was so beautiful. It was endlessly dark and quietly elegant. I loved the negative space between the barren branches of the trees and the moonlight that outlined them. The shadows provided all the movement I needed. Life was unnecessary here. It was superfluous and decadent. A long time ago, it was noisy, but here there was silence. I could hear myself think and hear the pleasant sound of stillness.

It was my job to clear out the few people here who still clung to life, but after that, I would be glad to just enjoy my surroundings. I loved this land of death.


	65. The Innocents

Peach Unk

How did I get stuck with Mouse and Alice? Not that I didn't like the little squirts, but they were a serious hindrance. Inky and I at least had a chance. Mouse and Alice were charity cases. And I couldn't leave them. First, that would be wrong. Second, the Capitol would hate me. And third, I didn't want Silver and Anise's ghosts haunting me the rest of my life. I ain't got time for that.

Inky was still getting over the whole Black Death thing, so I was on supply duty. I tried to think of a way out of the whole mess, but there was nothing. The best thing I could do was leave, but I couldn't stand to do that. I wasn't like the Capitol. I cared about kids. The luckiest thing that could happen would be for them to die while I was out.

A cannon shook the ground. I felt an irrational surge of superstitious guilt. _I killed them. I said it would be lucky and then it happened. But there was only one cannon..._

Another sounded. I'd done it again. Before I could stop it, the thought popped out.

 _If it was them, it would be three._

The final cannon didn't sound. I almost fainted I was so relieved. Shame on me, believing in black cats and four-leaf clovers. It was just some other pair of unlucky saps.

* * *

Mouse Parentii

It was boring always hiding inside the building. Inky probably wanted a little peace and quiet after being cooped up with us so long, so Alice and I went outside to play. We wouldn't go farther than Inky could see from the doorway, and if anything happened we could run back inside. There weren't any safety guarantees around here anyway. We could die just as easily inside.

"Peach is back," Alice said. She was far away, and she was all bent over. She looked like she was shaking. Alice ran a little closer, then stopped.

"That's not Peach," I said when I caught up with her. It was some other girl. She had her hands up to her face, and she was crying. I could faintly hear her wailing.

"What's wrong with her?" Alice asked. She ran closer. I looked back at our camp. We were still within sight of Inky, though she around the corner from the door and I couldn't see her at that exact moment. It was just one girl, and Beth was dead. No one else was very dangerous as long as we went together and were careful.

The girl was crying really loudly. I noticed it when we got closer. She was wearing a green dress. She looked up as we got closer and smiled sadly at us. She was very pretty- she had pretty green eyes and her hair was shiny red. Everything in the Arena was so dark. It was nice to see something so bright. She didn't stop crying, but she looked happy to see us.

* * *

Alice Silvin

"What's wrong?" I asked the girl. I didn't remember her from training. It was weird I hadn't noticed such a beautiful girl. I'd never seen anyone so lovely. I wished she wasn't so sad.

"So many people have died," the woman said. She had a strange accent, even weirder than the people from the Capitol. "I always cry when someone dies."

"It's okay. It's not your fault," I said. The woman wailed suddenly. It was a horribly sad sound. Her hair shimmered as she threw her head back.

"Don't be sad," I said. I was about to cry along with her. "Was it your friend who died?"

"It was someone very young," the woman said. "Someone who shouldn't have been here. And so many others..." I understood then.

"You're one of them," I said, and I looked at the angel statue above our building. "That's why you're so pretty. And so sad."

"I have so many more to cry for," the woman said. I took her hand, and Mouse took her other. She started to glow, and the Arena wasn't dark anymore.

"I think I know who she was crying for," Mouse said. I was about to ask if she knew Silver and Anise, but then they were there. Mouse and I ran to them, tugging the woman along with us. She wasn't wailing anymore. Nobody could cry with Silver and Anise there. There was nothing to cry about anymore, and it was never going to be dark again.

* * *

Vera Busattil

I couldn't sleep. It didn't matter that I was the only one of all of us that had training, and that I had the best chance by far. I was scared. This Arena was the worst thing ever dreamed up by the worst minds in Panem. I hoped it haunted them as much as the haunted me.

Frankie was on watch. I sat up next to him.

"You're not scared," I said.

"No," he said.

"No, I suppose not. It must be nice," I said.

"You don't seem to like being scared, so I guess so," he said.

"You're not even scared to die?" I asked.

"I've done it before, and I wasn't scared then," he said. After a minute, he added, "I'm not scared of dying. But there's nothing to keep me going, either. Except you."

I couldn't imagine what it was like to never be afraid. There were so many things I was afraid of. I remembered the monster bat that tore through the rain forest after the smell of my blood, or the feeling I had when Whyte was bleeding out under me. I'd lost Frankie once before. That was the scariest of all.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Frankie said. I knew he meant it for himself. For him, there was never anything to be afraid of. But when he said it, it was true for me, too. There was nothing to be afraid of. Not as long as he was there.

* * *

 **28th place: Mouse Parentii- taken by a banshee**

 **You seemed to prefer Tribute-on-Tribute action so I've been amping that up, but this was a special case. I didn't want Mouse and Alice to go out violently, and that would have happened with their two likely killers- Arter or Jack. This way worked out best to add in another graveyard staple and ease them out gently. Mouse embraced his younger side more this time around. It was nice to see him act his age and get to be a kid before he went. Sometimes I get a little metaphysical and this was the perfect Arena for it, so take their deaths as you will. I interpret it as they died when they touched the banshee.**

 **28th place: Alice Silvin- taken by a banshee**

 **I'm always careful with Alice. Hunger Games are Hunger Games, but it's not fun to write or read about horrible brutalities with someone that young. Death was inevitable but I didn't have to make it bloody and I didn't. Alice is where she belongs: with Silver, Anise, and Mouse. Of course she really belongs in a world without a Hunger Games, but this was the best I could do.**


	66. Wrong Turn

Emmeline Blythe

Five was an uneasy number. With four, there could be two balanced pairs. Just like in the vote yesterday, five meant there were no ties. Someone would be the odd man out if there was a fight. Electra and Des were a pair. Apollo was too friendly to attack unless he seemed to be a threat, and I wouldn't want to fight him even after his dead arm had fallen off.

That left me and Gizmo. Gizmo was more charismatic than I was, and we were a match in intelligence. He was surely thinking the same thing I was. I knew from Dominique that he was strategic enough to kill his allies when he needed. He would already be planning how to turn them against me. There were too many of them for me to fight. I wasn't even strong enough to fight any one of them with confidence. Clearly, I needed to act.

I waited until I was on watch to put my plan into action. I quietly went through our supplies and took a few things I needed. I wasn't greedy and I didn't take anything that would make the others chase after me. Just a bag, Des and Electra's empty sponsor canisters since they were metal, a thin canvas blanket, and a strip of bandages. I remembered what happened with the camazotz and added a pocketknife.

Gizmo was watching me as I packed. I'd known he'd be sleeping with one eye open. Both of us had for a long time. He didn't say anything as I left. If he made a fuss, I'd go for him first, and he didn't want to risk getting injured. It was better for him to have me far away, and it was better for me to be away from him. For once, we agreed.

* * *

Electra Magneta

"There's someone out there," Apollo said as he came back from taking care of business.

"Did he see you?" Gizmo asked. He didn't even ask if it was Emmeline. She was long gone, whatever reason she decided to leave.

"No, I came back as soon as I saw him," Apollo said. "I don't know who it was, but it wasn't Jack."

"We've already decided what to do about outsiders," Gizmo said. As long as he was the one to suggest it, I wasn't going to argue. I was scared. I wanted to be away from gravestones and monsters. I could say it was his idea and I just wanted to get home. I was ready to follow.

"I suppose you already have a plan," Des said coldly. We all resented how calculating Gizmo was. We just knew he was too valuable to lose.

"I'll pretend to be wounded and draw him in. Everyone else stay out of sight. When he's close enough, you stun him with your prod," Gizmo said, looking at me for the last part. "Then it will be easy for Des to finish it."

"Are you okay with that?" Des asked. I was scared, of course, but I wanted to pull my weight. It made sense for me to do it. It would be harder for Apollo to get that close without being seen, and he only had one hand to hold the prod.

"All right, let's do it," I said.

* * *

Logan Quinn

"Help!"

That wasn't a mutt. It was a Tribute. It didn't sound like Jay, but I wasn't certain. People sound different when they're in pain. I knew that one from experience.

I moved toward the sound cautiously. If it wasn't Jay, there were a couple of ways things could go. If the Tribute wasn't seriously injured, I'd move on so I'd be far away by the time they recovered. If he was hurt badly, I'd probably just leave him. I wasn't a merciful person. The most mercy I had was that if the guy was mangled bad enough I'd put him out of his misery.

It was easy to find the boy with the way he was carrying on and wailing. He was curled up on the ground with his arms clutching his stomach. His back was to me. He looked smaller than Jay, but just in case, I crept closer. I was about five feet away when I stopped. First, it wasn't Jay. Second, there was no blood underneath him.

A shadow fell across me from behind and I pivoted. I smashed my fist full force into the girl who was trying to sneak up behind me. She flew backwards and some sort of cattle prod fell from her hand. She jerked haphazardly as she lay on the ground.

I didn't have time to react to the second shadow. I started to turn and saw a glimpse of some impossibly tall Amazon swinging a gigantic axe at me and screaming. I couldn't punch an axe, but it could sure cut me.

* * *

Apollo Wilson

"What's wrong with her?" I asked as we all clustered around Electra. Des was cradling her, trying to wake her up.

"Electra? Electra!" she called vainly. Her eyes were open, but they weren't looking at anything. They weren't connected anymore, either. One was off to one side, like she had a lazy eye.

"What's wrong with her?!" Des repeated, more loudly and directed at Gizmo.

"Something's wrong with her head," Gizmo said. He sounded more urgent and panicked than I'd ever heard him. If Gizmo was freaking out, it wasn't good.

"Lay her flat. Don't shake her," Gizmo said. Des laid Electra down and took both her hands.

"Don't go. You're okay, all right?" she asked. Teardrops fell onto Electra's face and slid off her cheeks. I didn't even know what to do. Her head looked fine. There was a big red mark where Logan hit her, but bruises didn't kill people. A cannon sounded. Des' head jerked up.

"No. No," she said. She put a hand in front of Electra's mouth. "Come on. Why aren't you breathing?"

"I'm so sorry," Gizmo said. I expected Des to fly at him and kill him right there, but she hardly noticed him. She shut Electra's eyes and went back to cradling her. Gizmo started to cry.

"I'm sorry," he said again. Des let him kneel down by the two of them and join the mournful huddle. I stood over them like one of the statues scattered around the Arena. I didn't even know where to start.

* * *

 **27th place: Logan Quinn- Axed by Des**

 **Logan was fine on his own, but he preferred allies. He didn't die because he was alone. He just got tricked and couldn't fight off so many people by himself. Gizmo didn't know how tough his quarry was, though. He underestimated him, and it cost them all.**

 **26th place: Electra Magneta- Head trauma from Logan's punch**

 **I'd read about people dying from punches and Logan was the logical choice. Electra wasn't weak, but she wasn't as hardy as some Tributes, so she was also the logical choice. I noticed her alliance had been getting off pretty light, but we're getting closer to the end, and it was time to make something happen. She probably surprised herself with how well she did.**


	67. The Burning

Elara Angelo

It was impressive how adaptable people were. I felt almost at home in an Arena made of nothing but dead bodies and monsters. I went about my business gathering food when I needed and keeping an eye out for other Tributes. I even got used to having a poltergeist for company. I _had_ to get used to it, since he wouldn't leave me alone. I guess you get bored stuck in a graveyard for who knows how long with only zombies to talk to.

I'd dug myself a little latrine behind the bonehouse I'd taken up residence in. I hadn't wanted to risk it at first, but there were a lot fewer Tributes now. We were spread more thinly and I didn't have to be quite as careful. Despite the very non-helpful ghost that refused to help me dig, I'd gotten it deep enough that it didn't stink the place up.

I started around the corner to heed nature's call, but a flurry of movement stopped me. Someone had been hiding by my latrine, waiting for me to come out. It was a girl, and she jumped at me as I rounded the corner. My reflexes took over and I smashed my knee up between her legs, pushing her at the same time so she fell across me. She grabbed my leg to pull me down, and I lifted it up and stomped her hand. She yelped and tried to pull away as I looked for a weapon. I picked up a chunk of rock, or maybe it was a bit of a broken gravestone. I hit her in the face with it as she opened her mouth to bite me. I knelt on her chest and kept hitting her until her cannon sounded.

* * *

Delilah Clementine

I stuck close to the buildings when I could. It felt safer to be tucked by a solid wall. I felt like I was out of sight and not so exposed.

My foot caught on a hole in the ground. It had been too dark for me to see it. I pitched forward and almost smashed into another Tribute as she came around the corner. She thought I was attacking and kicked me between the legs. I grabbed her leg to pull myself up and explain, but she stomped my hand and it hurt so bad I screamed instead. I tried to yank away, and then I recovered my presence of mind enough to explain. I tried to tell her I just tripped, but she hit me in the mouth with a rock. It smashed my lips into a pulp and a tooth flew into my windpipe, making me cough. She hit me again, and it knocked the words back out of my head. I tried to wave her off with my arms, or at least get her to stop hitting me, but she didn't understand. Soon I stopped trying.

* * *

Vextrix Webb

I didn't know zombies could hold grudges. These ones apparently knew I'd killed their brothers, and they weren't happy. Or maybe I was just overthinking things. But there did seem to be a lot of them in our area. We'd just cleared out the first bunch and were starting to think things were quieting down when more of them showed up in the distance. They caught us out in the open, and they formed a ring around us. That wasn't even fair. Zombies weren't that smart. The Gamemakers planned it so we'd have to fight them and couldn't run.

Well, screw the Gamemakers. They wanted the zombies to surround us and slowly box us in. But we were smarter than zombies. We climbed the single tree they'd forgotten to account for. So we were back where we started: treed by a bunch of zombies.

There were more this time. I counted twenty, and I expected more would come when the Gamemakers saw we weren't playing ball. We'd been sitting around a fire when they came. We hadn't thought to put it out, and I hoped the Gamemakers didn't send a wind to start a blaze and get us out of the tree. I could only hope they'd rather see us die by zombie and give us time to think than make it quick and burn us alive.

We were in a precarious position. The way the branches were, there wasn't any place I could reach the zombies without one of them maybe being able to grab me. I could stab down at them awkwardly with my spear, but it was hard to get enough force to penetrate the skull. We were going to have to fight smarter this time.

* * *

Kerry Selmosa

Not again. Why'd it have to be zombies again? Why couldn't it be vampires? Even vampires weren't as bad as zombies. At least they didn't cluster around you in suffocating hordes and pull you to pieces so slowly you got to see what your guts looked like. I was as far up in the tree as I could get, and it still wasn't enough.

Vextrix was trying to be the heroic zombie killer again, but she could hardly reach them. Castiel and Zetan were throwing sticks at them, but sticks didn't kill zombies. As for me, I was too terrified to be of any help. I was wrapped around the tree, clinging on for life and trying to scoot higher every second.

At least we were secure. Zombies couldn't climb trees. The tree was too high for them to pile up on each other unless a lot more of them came- and I wasn't sure they wouldn't. I had a vision of them crawling up on top of each other, higher and higher, until they finally reached us as we cowered and watched. My stomach heaved and I tried not to throw up all over Vextrix. Then the tree shuddered, and I almost wet my pants.

Zombies couldn't climb trees. But they could knock them over. They weren't doing it on purpose. There were just so many of them crowding around the tree. And it wasn't a healthy tree, either. It didn't have any leaves. It was probably dead, like the rest of the Arena. Its roots were withering away. Its wood was fragile, ready to snap instead of bend.

The tree shuddered again. A branch snapped off and almost knocked Zetan off his perch. The others drew back closer to the trunk next to me. I tried to hold the tree in place with my weight, even though I knew it was useless. It shook again, and then Castiel was falling.

* * *

Castiel Wickham

They were going to knock it over. They'd knock the tree over, and then we'd be done for. Maybe one of us could scamper away and slip through them, but there were so many. They were slow, but we might get hurt in the fall. One of us might get pinned under the tree, and we'd have to listen as they slowly closed in on him. No matter what, most of us were going to die. Then I jumped.

Our fire was ten feet from the tree. Some of the zombies were around it, trying to push closer to us. I knew what would happen if I left the tree, but it wasn't part of my decision. It was the right thing to do. I hit the ground and shoved the zombies aside. It wouldn't work for long, but I didn't need long. I darted through them and reached the fire. I grabbed one of the logs, ignoring the searing pain until I got it free of the pile. As I'd hoped, the zombies clustered closer around me, leaving the tree unguarded. I didn't want to burn my friends to death trying to save them.

The zombies were all around me. I couldn't have run even if I'd wanted to. Instead, I held out the flaming stick. The fire spread onto the nearest zombie's clothes, engulfing them in seconds. The zombie didn't stop or try to put out the fire. It just reached for me and pulled me in. The others crowded closer, until I couldn't even see past them. They started in on me, but I could see the fire spreading across them. They couldn't feel it and didn't care, but it would destroy them all. This must be what they meant when they talked about "going out in a blaze of glory". It really was a glorious blaze.

I knew it was going to hurt, and it did. It was quicker than I thought, but I wished it had been quicker. I shut my eyes and tried not to scare my allies with my screams. I took my thoughts somewhere else.

 _Greater love has no man..._

* * *

 **25th place: Delilah Clementine- beaten to death by Elara**

 **I didn't want it to be a boring parade of Jack and Arter killing people. Elara isn't out to kill people, but Tributes have to assume the worst in the Arena. She couldn't afford to let Delilah up so she could explain. She had to deal with the threat, real or not. Delilah more or less knew it was coming eventually. She was a lovely girl, but this was an ugly Arena.**

 **24th place: Castiel Wickham, vampire slayer- Eaten by burning zombies**

 **Castiel had different priorities than most Tributes. He did want to live, but life wasn't the most valuable thing to him. He wasn't part of this world. He was just passing through. He didn't have as high a survival instinct as the others, and in the end he was willing to sacrifice himself. While the Capitol could in theory manufacture infinite zombies, they're not going to make any more. It was too cool an ending to pass up. The Mutt Slayer struck again, one last time.**


	68. In Cold Blood

Frankie Wilson

There were so many things to be scared of here, but Vera was right. I wasn't scared of any of them. I was the only one immune to this Arena. It seemed to reflect something in me that I could see things like this and not be affected. What made us human was our morality, our reaction to things that in nature went unchallenged. People based their lives off finding happiness. Most people tried to advance their idea of right. I didn't like being in pain, but other than that, it was all neutral. The only thing I could know I valued was life, because I wanted myself and Vera to stay alive. I didn't even know why I cared so much about her, since I didn't get any of the intoxicating emotions she got from me.

I felt detached from humanity as I stood guard on the roof of our home. The other Tributes were on edge, fitfully sleeping or failing to because of the terrors around us. Everyone outside the Arena was watching and probably losing sleep just over the bits they could see. But to me, the monsters and dangers were only deterrents because they could damage me. I didn't fear them any more than I feared germs. A wolf howled somewhere, then more joined in.

Two zombies appeared on the edge of the horizon. I aimed an arrow and shot the closer one through the head. When it fell, its companion knelt down, and I heard it scream.

I was mistaken. It was a pair of Tributes. The remaining figure stood and I aimed again. As it started to run, I shot it in the back. There was no need to aim for the head anymore.

* * *

Calista Corral

Most of the Tributes were probably afraid when they heard the wolves, but I was glad. It just so happened my token was a dog whistle. It was skirting the rules, but it wasn't really a weapon. It was just useful.

Sarla and I followed the sound until we saw the pack. They didn't see us yet, and the smell of rot and dampness in the Arena meant we could get closer than usual without being detected. I blew my whistle as hard as I could. I didn't hear anything, of course, but the wolves immediately jumped up and started keening. One of them moved away from the noise, and the others followed. I stopped blowing and they settled back down.

"Cool," Sarla said. "What are you going to do with it?"

"We can drive them ahead of us whenever we move around," I said. "People will get out of our way and not notice us. If we find Jack or someone like that, we can aim the wolves at them."

Sarla shuddered. It was a horrible way to go, and I felt guilty for planning it. But I didn't have many weapons. To soothe my conscience, I resolved to only aim the dogs at boys. I was still a loyal sister. And I wasn't just protecting myself. I was protecting Sarla. She was a sister too.

* * *

Sarla Mondins

I didn't want to sic wolves on anybody. I wanted to stop getting brought back and dying again. I appreciated the second chances, but I knew my odds. I'd never admit it to anyone, but if they brought me back again, I wished they'd leave Daniel behind. My life was worth more to him than it was to me. I didn't really mind my weird type of life, but it was hard on him. This world was no place for someone like Daniel.

The wolves were the prettiest thing I'd seen in the Arena. They were actually the way they were supposed to be. They weren't broken or twisted or dead. They were real living animals that were just trying to eat and stay alive, like us Tributes. I hoped when the Games were over and the Arena walls came down, the wolves would be able to run free and go back to where wolves belonged.

I was glad I had Calista. It wasn't so bad being alone, but I felt like I was just waiting for death. With someone else there was at least a chance we could be strong enough together. I was twice as strong as I was before. We could take it one day at a time and maybe we'd last forever.

For an instant, something pricked at my forehead.

* * *

Lyte Anderson

Vera and Frankie were strong. They didn't need me. The Gamemakers weren't going to send another plague. That would be boring television. If Frankie and Vera got into a fight, they'd either win or die in the fight. They didn't need a medic anymore. It was classic triage.

I still planned to stay. I'd died once with Vera. I wanted to stay with her until the end, and Frankie too. Vera was my friend, and I thought Frankie was too. He didn't show it, but I could tell. If he didn't like me, he would have killed me so I couldn't help his enemies. Maybe Vera could talk him out of it, but he might do it without telling her. I didn't blame him for being the way he was.

Two more cannons had sounded since we got up. I wondered if I could have helped them, and if Junie was thinking the same thing.

* * *

 **23rd place: Sarla Mondins- shot by Frankie**

 **I've always liked Sarla, so I keep trying to think of new things for her no matter how many times she comes back. Since her submitter isn't as invested, I have more freedom to develop her. She's gotten a lot more mature, and she'll probably do better each time she comes back. She's becoming a woman, even as she dies over and over.**

 **22nd place: Calista Corral- shot by Frankie**

 **Calista finally weaponized the mutts. It didn't last long enough for her to kill anyone, but it preserved her and Sarla from the wolves and anyone nearby them. Frankie just wasn't nearby. Calista changed a lot this time. She underwent a cultlike transformation when she joined the Amazons, but she meant well. I've never seen another ventriloquist Tribute, and that was cool.**


	69. Camp Blood

Zetan Thompson

I didn't think people were that brave in real life. I'd seen Tributes scream and beg for someone to take their place, and I'd seen twins pretend they didn't hear their siblings call for them. I'd seen more people die than I could count, and maybe one in every fifty didn't look terrified. Unless someone was crazy, they didn't die on purpose. Castiel was like no one else.

I wasn't like him. I was scared and I didn't want to die. I ran last time one of us got in trouble and I'd do it again. I wasn't proud of it, but I couldn't change it. I was a coward by nature. I clung to life before anything else, and I'd never have the courage to die for my allies. As much as I wanted to be, I wasn't perfect. None of really deserved what he did.

I was within sight of our building when I saw death. We always stuck close, of course. It would be suicide to wander alone in this Arena. I just stepped outside to get some fresh air and check for anyone lurking. Unless I got sniped by Frankie, I was probably safe, and honestly Frankie and Vera could get us if they wanted us. I didn't expect to see death, though. He was standing silhouetted against a tall gravestone, his dark cloak stark against its white marble. He was looking at me.

A moment went by before he started toward me. If I had run, I could have made it back to my allies. But as soon as I saw him, I froze. It didn't seem possible to move. It seemed like the only thing to do was stay still until he left. If I'd called for my allies, they would have come right away. But I was struck silent. I was silent until his scythe at my throat cut off all noise.

* * *

Merle Loveridge

Torchy wasn't nearly so mean as he pretended to be. He stuck around with me even though I wasn't the strongest Tribute. He could say it was because I knew first aid, but I knew the truth. He wasn't in love with me or something sappy like that. We were just friends. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who had many friends. I was glad something good finally happened to him, even if it didn't balance out the Games and especially this Arena.

Someone's cannon sounded while I was out getting water from the graves. It always upset me, even after so many times. I wasn't going to lose any sleep if it was someone like Jack, but it still bothered me. I wished people like that could get help and get better. I found a bottle of fizzy liquid and some candies and headed back to our camp.

A glint of metal caught my eye as I stepped inside the door. I turned and saw Torchy out of the corner of my eye. I dropped the bottle, and it broke on the ground. Sticky liquid pooled around my feet and the bubbles hissed as they popped.

Torchy was slumped against the wall, suspended off the ground by the machete through his chest. Before I could scream, something else registered. The machete wasn't his. There was a noise behind me. I turned as Jack stepped forward from behind the door, holding Torchy's machete.

I thought people were good by nature. As Jack pinned me next to Torchy, I thought maybe I was wrong. But then, I'd been afraid I was wrong about Torchy, too. I'd been afraid he'd kill me like he killed earlier. He stayed with me until the end. I was right about some things.

* * *

Torchy Conden

Merle didn't hear the fight, because I didn't want her to. I didn't want to make a peep when Jack stepped into our camp. I knew two things would happen if I did. First, it wouldn't warn Merle away. She'd come running to my assistance like a little angel, even though she couldn't do anything to help. Second, she'd die in a heartbeat. So I made as little noise as possible as I fought Jack. He was silent too, like always, so there was a deceptive calm in the air.

If I'd run past him, I could have escaped. He was so slow. But then Merle might see, and she might mistake us or run toward me in an attempt to help. So I stayed. That's how I ended up skewered to a wall by my own machete. Jack had some wounds of his own, but he wasn't the one that got hung like a painting.

It was a little embarrassing in the end. People were going to remember this. They were going to remember Torchy Conden, the firebug thief from Eight. They'd remember Torchy Conden, the sap who died over a ditzy broad.

* * *

Jack Void

 _Kill them all. Kill them all and get home. Home to where you belong. Home to your family._

Home where the sun isn't hidden all the time and where the people are familiar. It had been so long since I'd been there. I'd been lost for so long.

The others were my enemies. They were evil. Only a few of them were like me. I stayed clear of them. The ones that weren't condemned didn't belong here either. I didn't hurt them. I'd hurt the others if they tried. There were children here in this place not meant for anyone. Children were the only ones I didn't hate.

I didn't want to be in this place. The others ran away from me, but I was scared too. I was scared of the darkness that tried to take me, and of the cold depths that were waiting. I wanted to go home, just like a child.

* * *

 **21st place: Zetan Thompson- slashed by Arter**

 **Not all Tribute are brave. Most people don't submit scared, panicky Tributes. That wasn't Zetan's only attribute, but it was harder to hide in this Arena. Zetan did better in his first alliance. It seems he, Arter, and Gizmo all needed Nubu as a linchpin. Without that inspiration, Zetan didn't have the same heart. Sometimes people freeze up when they're scared, and that's what happened to Zetan.**

 **20th place: Torchy Conden- stabbed by Jack**

 **I got the feeling Torchy was submitted more to see him again than in hopes he'd win, so I let myself develop him more freely. I didn't want to go full-blown cheesy, but it worked out to match him with Merle and she was a good influence. He wasn't an angel at the end, but he was a nicer guy. So ends their odd little Romeo and Juliet saga. This time, he'll actually be missed.**

 **19th place: Merle Loveridge- stabbed by Jack**

 **Merle thought there was good in everyone. She learned from Beth that wasn't always the case, and she was smart enough to get out while she could. She and Torchy were a strange pair, but they were good together. She kept her faith even in the graveyard Arena. She was stronger than she looked.**

 **As requested, here's Jack's POV. As you can see, it's difficult because there's not much in there. It doesn't really make sense. If it does for you, you might want to get yourself checked out.**


	70. Theatre of Blood

Bambi Kirkland

I knew it was over when Castiel died. Calista was a sharp girl, but there was so much stacked against her. It was a phenomenal performance for her to get as far as she did. But only the Victor mattered in the end. It hurt less than most years, since I could say they weren't really my mentees, just repeats. But I wouldn't forget any of them: Delilah, Zinnia, Rory, Calista, Castiel, Serena, or Emmalie. So many names, all gone again, like they never came back at all.

* * *

District Ten

It was like losing an entire classroom all at once. What might have happened if it had been only two? Delilah might have been around to sing at Serena's funeral. Castiel might have prayed at Zinnia's grave. Emmalie and Rory might have gotten married. There were so many possibilities, all gone.

* * *

Jay Dallas

I didn't want revenge. I wanted my friends back. I wanted to see DeMarcus and Blaise thumb wrestling for candy wagers again. I wanted to hear one of Cooper's poems and to see Jake knock a branch off a tree from thirty feet away with a rock.

I wanted to see Zach again. We'd known each other so long. Even before Austin was born, Zach and I were friends. The first time I saw him, we were in the fields. We were eight years old, just starting our laboring years. I saw him trying to be the first to till his row and sped up. He saw what I was doing and right away it was a race. I won, but both our rows were so horribly done we were lucky not to get whipped. Everything was fun with him, even tilling fields. I didn't know how I'd ever have fun again.

Most of all, I wanted my brother. I'd missed a lot of Austin's childhood since I was dead, but we were linked forever. He was my mission in the Games. I took care of myself, but it was my job to keep my brother safe. I hardly felt like a man anymore. I only kept fighting because I couldn't give up.

It must have been Jack I saw. No one else would be out so brazenly in the open, and no one else would stay when I charged.

"Want to see a-" he said. It was too late to stop by then.

* * *

Olivier Fowler

"Want to see a magic trick?" I asked from the ground. The other boy interrupted me the first time. He also stabbed me. A while ago I would have cared, but it was hard when I knew it was coming.

"Oh god, I'm sorry," the boy said. "I didn't know it was you."

"Come on, don't be shy," I said. I was dying, but I had time for a swan song. It was nothing to cry about. I was one life in a million. People die. It happens to everyone. Life would go on, even if I wasn't a part of it.

I curled my fingers around a pebble as the boy knelt down. I passed one hand in front of the other and the pebble vanished. The boy's expression changed to one of surprised interest in spite of himself.

"It's right here," I said. I snapped my fingers and the pebble was there between my forefinger and thumb. I tossed it at the other hand and palmed it at the last second, so it disappeared again.

"Or maybe it's here," I said, and I pulled it from his ear. I handed it to the boy as my strength faded.

"Keep it. A souvenir," I said. I could tell he was wondering how I did it. A magician never reveals his secrets. I was taking mine to the grave. For him, I made magic real.

* * *

Inky Balboa

It was my fault Alice and Mouse died. I forgot to check the doorway. I was supposed to check and I forgot. I thought I checked, but they died. I should have checked.

Peach was right beside me, holding the pitchfork someone had sponsored her, but I checked anyway. I looked at the doorway again and again. There was nothing there. But maybe I just thought I checked. Maybe I forgot again. I checked the doorway. There was nothing there.

 _I'll check five times._ That way I'd know I didn't forget. I walked to the doorway and tapped each of the stones that made it up. I tapped each and went back to the start. Five times I did it, and then I sat back down.

I checked the doorway. There was someone there. He was dressed like the Grim Reaper. Peach saw him, too. He walked toward me and raised his scythe, ignoring her. I jumped up and darted closer to the doorway. I was supposed to check the doorway. The boy brought back his scythe again. Peach stood up behind him.

"Hey, butthead!" she yelled. He didn't even react. I moved out of his way again and Peach was done.

" _Eat this, you son of a PITCH!"_

* * *

Peach Unk

Inky kept looking at the door every five seconds. She was driving me batty. Then one time she looked and there was actually someone there. Some clown in a Grim Reaper outfit just waltzed right into our building nonchalantly and started swinging around a scythe. I got up to run, but he didn't even look at me. He went after Inky and ignored me.

 _What, does he think I'm supposed to wait my turn and then die?_ Not happening.

"Hey, butthead!" I yelled. He kept going after Inky and didn't even turn his head. For a second, I tried to remember if there were any mentally impaired Tributes this year. I couldn't think of any, so it seemed goth boy here was just terminally stupid. I was about to make that "terminal" come true.

"Eat this, you son of a pitch!" I yelled as I shoved my pitchfork forward. It caught him in the middle and I almost hauled him off his feet when I leaned forward and levered it against the ground. He wasn't dead yet, so I pushed him to the floor, removed the pitchfork, and stuck the tines into his head. That did it. I pulled his cloak down and revealed some pasty kid.

"That's not the Grim Reaper," Inky said.

"No kidding," I said. I could hardly believe it. He just marched into our camp and turned his back on me. You'd think he thought he was immortal.

* * *

Arter Wire

I couldn't be dying. I was already dead. Or maybe the Reaper died too. It was the most fitting thing I could think of. It wasn't scary for me. It was like a promotion. I was about to escort myself into the next life.

* * *

 **18th place: Olivier Fowler- Stabbed by Jay**

 **Olivier's form said it would take something really big to snap him back into having faith in magic. That would likely have been Tariq, but Tariq went sour and that really hurt Olivier. He started to fall apart, but his own death brought him back to himself. It was hard to think of a trick he could do in this Arena with such limited resources, so I did my best. I liked him, and I'm sorry he couldn't wow us more.**

 **17th place: Arter Wire- impaled by Peach**

 **Arter was a great catalyst. Since he went nuts, he was one of a handful of Tributes reliably picking fights. I couldn't kill him early just because I needed him to keep things moving. His form said he'd get carried away and die because he didn't think. He thought Death could come for Peach whenever he pleased and didn't reckon on Peach being unruly, which she usually is. Like Zetan, Arter fared better with Nubu, but that's mostly because he wasn't insane then.**


	71. The Shining

**Mouse Parentii-** Peach Unk

I knew it was going to happen, but it didn't make it any easier. I wanted to run out of the Arena and give the Capitol a piece of my mind. But that would just make me dead too.

* * *

 **Alice Silvin-** Inky Balboa

 _Alice. Alice. Alice. Alice. Alice. Five letters in her name. Keep saying it or Peach will die too. Five letters in Peach's name. Don't die Peach. Don't die Peach..._

* * *

 **Logan Quinn-** Jay Dallas

My last ally was gone. I couldn't save any of them and I probably couldn't save myself.

* * *

 **Electra Magneta-** Desiree Redwood

Why'd they have to pick her? Why couldn't they pick someone stronger? Not that she was weak, but she was quiet and sensitive. Why couldn't they pick a lion for the Arena instead of a mouse that minded her own business?

* * *

 **Castiel Wickham-** Vextrix Webb

I wouldn't have done what Castiel did. Now he was dead and I was alive, because of our different decisions. I wasn't sure which was better.

* * *

 **Delilah Clementine-** Elara Angelo

I was a murderer. No matter why or what happened next, I was a murderer. If I lived, it was over that girl's dead body. I lived because she didn't. She didn't live because of me.

* * *

 **Sarla Mondins-** Junie Brett

Someone killed that little girl. I hoped he died. Before, I wouldn't have wished death on anyone. Death was a medic's worst enemy. But here, sometimes it was for the best.

* * *

 **Calista Corral-** Frankie Disney

I wondered which of the faces were the ones I'd killed. The only one I could be sure it wasn't was Arter. He traveled alone. Two of the faces were my victims. I was two placings closer to winning.

* * *

 **Zetan Thompson-** Kerry Selmosa

We didn't even know it had happened until he didn't come back to camp. We couldn't imagine what happened. The hovercraft took his body before we could see it up close. Whoever it was, they slipped away like a phantom.

* * *

 **Torchy Conden-** Jack Void

Another face was up in the sky. That happened a lot, especially after I killed someone. Maybe it was their ghosts. They weren't any scarier than the rest of the Arena.

* * *

 **Merle Loveridge-** Lyte Anderson

She probably died trying to heal someone. They never should have brought her back. Someone who actually cared about other people didn't have a chance in here.

* * *

 **Olivier Fowler-** Vera Busattil

I was sorry to see him. He did such cool tricks in the Capitol. I always wanted to ask him how he did it. Now it was too late.

* * *

 **Arter Wire-** Emmaline Blythe

This was going to lengthen things. The only one left actually looking to kill people was Jack, and there were almost twenty of us left. He had a long way to go.

* * *

Desiree Redwood

I hadn't forgiven him. Gizmo thought I was so torn up about Electra that I'd forgotten his involvement. I _was_ torn up about Electra, but he was the reason why. He dragged her into his schemes and didn't care who died along the way. He was happy another competitor was gone. As long as Gizmo was alive, nothing else mattered.

I could see the gears in his head turning. He knew Apollo and I were stronger than he was. He knew I was closer to Apollo than to him in personality. In a fight, he'd go first and it would be between us. For once, I knew exactly what he'd do next.

"Alliances don't last forever," he said after arranging to catch me alone. "Have you considered what you'll do after we break up?"

"I guess I'll try to steer clear of Jack, Vera and Frankie and everyone else will try to steer clear of me," I said.

"What about Apollo? He's strong, even with only one hand," Gizmo said.

"He's a nice guy. I don't think he'll attack me unless we're the final two," I said.

"He _is_ a nice guy. But either he dies or you do. Maybe someone else will do the job for you, but you should consider the possibility," he said.

"Consider what possibility?" I asked. I wasn't as smart as Gizmo, but I wasn't as dumb as I looked.

"I know you're friends, but you have to think of yourself. If you fight Apollo, he might win, or he might injure you and leave you vulnerable. I know it's hard, but you have to think about what's best for you," Gizmo said.

"What, you want me to whack him?" I asked. Gizmo looked down in feigned regret.

"I know I'm the weakest of us. I have to look out for myself, too. If we all fight, I know I'll lose. If you fight Apollo, you might lose. But if you remove the threat now, before he knows what we're planning, it might turn out best for both of us," he said.

I pretended to think about it. I even pretended to cry about it. I shook his hand and the deal was sealed.

* * *

Apollo Wilson

We were dwindling away. I lost Pandora, and then Gizmo lost Electra. The only one left without blood on her hands was Des. I didn't want to mention Electra as we sat around the fire. I could see Des was still hurting, but I was afraid I'd make it worse.

"I'm going to get some air," Des said. Gizmo and I didn't protest as she rose. It was dangerous to be alone, but she needed to be by herself. I'd lost people, but never a friend as close as she and Electra were. The best I could do was let her go.

There was a chilly breeze in the air. When Des moved, she stopped blocking it, and it prickled at my skin. I moved closer to Gizmo to make up for it. He pointed at the fire.

"Hey, want to see something really cool? If you look real hard at something bright, like fire, then look away, you'll see a negative image of it?" Gizmo asked.

"Really? Cool," I said. I stared at the middle of the campfire, trying not to blink. There was a soft crunch as Gizmo shifted. Something damp hit my cheek, and I looked up to see if it was raining.

It wasn't raining. Inches away from me, Gizmo's head was split in half. I could see his brains weren't pink but gray, and they were covered with the same blood that had splashed onto me. Firelight glinted off the axe head still stuck into him.

I shot forward and grabbed a stick from the fire as Des removed her axe. She held it sharp side down and regarded her victim. She looked up at me.

"You're not going to miss him, are you?" she said. I was too dumbfounded to speak, and she went on.

"I don't want to fight you. I've lost enough allies. I'm going to walk away, and if you follow, I guess we'll fight. But I hope you don't," she said. I didn't move when she turned her back on me. I was still in shock from the sight of Gizmo's destroyed remains. I didn't want to lose any more allies either. I was tired of losing people.

* * *

Gizmo Torrens

I was leading Apollo to the slaughter. I knew Nubu would be watching me. Did he still have any respect for me, or was he wishing he'd never allied with me? I didn't have respect for what I was doing, but I didn't regret it. I'd already died once. I wasn't doing it again.

"Hey, you want to see something really cool?" I asked Apollo. If he was concentrating, he wouldn't hear Des sneaking up on him. Even if he did, his night vision would be impaired from the light.

I hadn't known I was this calculating. War used to be a philosophical exercise. It was different here, where armies inevitably fractured and allies were only delayed enemies. I heard Des coming, but I kept my eyes on Apollo so I wouldn't alarm him. The axe came whistling down.

* * *

 **16th place: Gizmo Torrens- axed by Des**

 **Gizmo suffered the most from his different allies. It seems Nubu really was the soul of their group. Whether it was that or the trauma of dying once, Gizmo hardened his heart. He was cold and calculating this time. His plan was logical and solid, but he forgot to account for something: emotion. Des would have been smarter to kill Apollo, but she hadn't forgiven Gizmo for Des and that was enough to change her mind. He also underestimated her. He was smart, but everyone else wasn't stupid.**


	72. Jaws

Elara Angelo

I was on the move again. The grave offerings were getting thinner, and I was impatient for the Games to be over. All but one of us were going to die no matter what. If I was the one that killed a few, so be it. I wasn't asking anyone for forgiveness. They'd do the same.

It was pitiful what I was going after. I could see the girl in the building had a little pile of supplies hardly a foot high. There was a first aid kit draped across it. In the Arena, she was rich, but everyone at home was going to watch us fight to the death over a few scraps and some bits of metal. We were about to kill each other over healing supplies.

I waited until the girl stepped outside to make my move. The audience would think I was just trying to steal some stuff and I only fought after I got caught. I could almost make myself think the same thing. Any excuse for something I never would have done anywhere else, but was my only choice here.

The first thing I took from the pile of supplies was a dagger. When the girl appeared in the doorway, I pretended to be as surprised as she was. I tried to stab her in the chest, but she put up her hand and the knife scraped across that instead. I'd barely seen the first girl's face when I killed her. This time, I saw it all. I saw her terror and pain and knew I was the monster to her.

The girl stepped forward into my strike and grabbed my knife hand with both of hers. I raised the knife up next to my head and clamped my teeth onto her fingers. I felt my teeth sink into her knuckle joint and heard a noise like a bitten carrot. Blood flooded my mouth and a scrap of warm flesh slid across my tongue. The girl screamed and her free hand fell away as she frantically tried to jerk free.

I hooked my fingers into her eye and felt the wet tissue ooze around them. I yanked down on the girl's eye socket and shoved the knife up into her as she folded forward. I pushed it up with all my strength and her entire weight was supported by it. I let her fall as her cannon sounded.

I looked at the white first aid kit with its bright red cross. It was the same color as the blood on my face. I heard the noise the girl's finger made again in my head. I didn't even want the supplies. I just wanted to be somewhere else.

* * *

Junie Brett

It was what I deserved for turning my back on all my promises. I said I was going to help the others. The only one I helped was Ever, and then I betrayed her. River was right to leave me. I wanted to be like her, but she couldn't bear to be with someone like me. Now, with my eye weeping out of its socket and the joint in my finger snapped like a rubber band, I couldn't fault the girl.

My eyes landed on the first aid kit as I fell. I hoped the girl used it better than I had.

* * *

Vextrix Webb

It was down to me and Kerry again. From the start, I'd never felt much attachment to him. There was nothing wrong with him. Maybe it was just because he was an extrovert and I was more reserved. I didn't expect we'd stay together much longer. It wouldn't really surprise me if we did, since safety in numbers was especially important this time around, but it wouldn't surprise me if I got up one day and he was gone. He knew I didn't particularly like him. He was probably afraid I'd go after him sometime. I didn't plan to, though. I didn't start fights. I just finished them if I had to.

It seemed like we were in the endgame, but we'd barely started by normal game standards. I'd already have won if this was a normal Games. But this time, I could outlast all those people, survive this long, and it could still all be for nothing. There were still more than a dozen of us left. We were never going to leave this place. For once, I wanted something to change.

The girl who killed me was still alive. I didn't have any foolish notions about vengeance. I wanted to avoid her and stay alive. Let her tangle with someone else and let them both die. I didn't want to see any other Tributes and I didn't want to see anything else. Every minute I was alone was a minute I wasn't dying.

* * *

 **Jaws, you say? Jaws, even though this is a landlocked Arena and the only place he could possibly live would be Sadako's well? Y'all wanted Jaws, Y'all got Jaws. And it was gross.**

 **15th place: Junie Brett- stabbed by Elara**

 **People are getting desperate. The Arena is getting to them all. Elara doesn't usually go out of her way to attack people, and Junie used to be a devoted nurse. People are changing, and one of them's changing into a Victor. Junie was hard on herself, but most people wouldn't have been that merciful to Ever. She didn't fail River. River would have done the same- she _tried_ to kill Ever and only failed because of Junie. Junie didn't really go bad. She just got less good.**


	73. Poltergeist

Inky Balboa

I spread out our supplies and put them into piles. We had three bottles of soda and one bottle of wine, which we hadn't touched. Trust the Gamemakers to give a bunch of kids wine. Maybe we could use it to feed the fire, but not all alcohol worked like that. I put the bottles in order of height, but it bothered me that the wine bottle was in between two soda bottles. It would have looked nicer at the end. I lined them up neatly and nudged them into place when I noticed irregularities.

Usually I didn't care if things were straight. I was just doing it now because everything else was so crooked. Nothing was the way it belonged. People were killing each other, kids were dying, the sun was gone, and monsters didn't stay under the bed. Everything was mixed up, and the bottles were one thing I could make right.

I couldn't get Alice and Mouse out of my head. I couldn't stop thinking about any of my allies, but they were the most recent. I felt useless, even as I organized our supplies. I wasn't as strong as Peach, and book learning didn't help us here. I couldn't even find plants in this dead Arena.

If I got out, the first thing I wanted to do was read again. Something carefree, like a fairy tale. Something Alice would have liked. After that, I wanted to write. I couldn't stop all these thoughts that kept repeating in my head. If I wrote them down, maybe they'd let me go. I'd write down everything about my friends and everything that happened. It would be a book then, and it wouldn't be as real. I read somewhere you only really die when the last person forgets your name. I'll make them live forever.

I was sitting behind hidden around the corner of the doorway as I organized. The girl who came in must have thought Peach, who was napping against the wall, was alone. I sprang up and ran into her as she advanced toward Peach. Her knife was already up, and she turned in surprise and stabbed me instead.

* * *

Peach Unk

Inky's cry jerked me awake and I sat up. I saw her wrestling with another girl and ran to help her. She was already bleeding, so I didn't even take the time to grab my pitchfork. The girl saw me coming and tried to shove Inky between us. Inky fell and I vaulted over her and into the girl. She raised her knife as I jumped and I twisted to hit her arm, pinning it against her chest. I smacked my forehead into the girl's nose and tears filled her eyes. She tried to back away, but fell suddenly. I kicked her in the face and saw Inky's arms around her leg. She'd pulled her leg out from under her and was trying to claw her way up to her face.

The girl's vision was obscured by tears and blood from her broken nose. I kicked her in the ribs and she fell sideways onto her back. It turned my stomach just to think of it, but I did what I had to to finish it. I bent one knee and jumped onto her neck, landed with all my weight on my bent knee. It was something I'd heard of in street fights, but I'd never done anything like it. I felt the bones fold under me and my knee sank into her neck like wet pasta as the crack rang out. I knew before her cannon that she was dead. In a second, she changed into a broken doll.

Inky was still holding the girl's leg. Blood was spreading out from underneath her in a circle. I flipped her over, afraid she'd bleed more but more afraid she'd bleed out if I didn't put pressure on the wound. Her entire front was matted with blood, and it kept coming. She took my hand.

"You're strong. You can do it," she said. I held my hands on the wound, trying to keep the blood in, until the bleeding stopped. It stopped when her cannon sounded. The temperature in the room dropped, and I didn't know if it was my shock or the loss of her body heat.

I heard a child crying. I looked at Elara, but she was still dead. Her hair rustled, like there was a breeze. A hand closed over my arm and warmth spread across my pants. An invisible hand slapped me so hard my head snapped sideways. The other hand released me and I fled. As I ran out the door, chunks of rock ripped themselves from the wall and flew at my head. If I was brave enough, I'd go back for the supplies, but I wasn't counting on it.

* * *

Elara Angelo

I played a dangerous game when I started to kill. Reward was based on risk. To preserve your life here, you had to risk dying. This time, the gamble didn't pay off. A cold, invisible hand took mine as the girl's knee descended on my neck. I heard a child crying.

* * *

 **14th place: Elara Angelo- neck crushed by Peach**

 **Elara was one of the more hardboiled Tributes, so it made sense she'd pick up the slack Arter left. She was used to a dog-eat-dog life, so the Arena was nothing new to her. With so many alliances, it was hard for her to eliminate her competition, but she narrowed the field. It's getting to where strong isn't enough. Soon only the strongest will be left.**

 **13th place: Inky Balboa- stabbed by Elara**

 **Inky wasn't well-suited for this Arena, but she performed well anyway. She was neurotic by nature and could easily have cracked, but she kept her focus and plugged away. Losing her allies hit her harder than most Tributes, and it gave her the strength to fight with Peach even as she was dying. She earned her place in the top thirteen.**


	74. Tormented

Lyte Anderson

Frankie was getting quieter. He was always quiet, but he was getting even more somber than usual. We were getting closer to the end, and he was starting to prepare for the finale. Vera was restless. I was surprised she hadn't started hunting already. She was at full health again, and they were strong enough to fight anyone who was left, even the alliances. Sure enough, they went out to look for the others and I stayed behind. If one got hurt, the other could bring them both back. If I went along, I might get in the way or get myself killed.

I didn't tell them, but after they left, I left too. I wasn't leaving the alliance, but I wanted to see how everyone else was doing. Frankie and Vera were my main allies, but I considered myself everyone's ally after that. I didn't pick and choose who I healed. I was still devastated over the ones I'd lost, and I didn't want it to happen again. I wasn't going to win anyway. As far as I was concerned, I was a neutral medic.

It didn't even seem that dangerous to move around. Other than Jack, I doubted any of the Tributes would attack me. They knew I'd help them if I could and it wasn't worth killing the boy who was going to die anyway and alienating the Capitol in the process. Mutts might get me, but they could attack me just as well at camp.

If I found anyone, I wouldn't tell Frankie and Vera. I didn't condemn them for hunting, but I wasn't going to help. I'd do what I could and tell whoever it was to move on. It was dangerous here.

* * *

Kerry Selmosa

I hated this Arena. We all did. I'd always been thrilled by danger and adventure, but this was too much for even me. I was scared of everything. It was easy to be brave when I was climbing a cliff and my only enemy was gravity. Everything was my enemy here, and the things that killed me were more terrible than gravity.

I saw the other boy before he saw me. I ducked behind a gravestone and crouched as I looked at him. It didn't look big enough to be Jack. It might even be a girl. I was about to run when it started coming closer. If it was someone who used ranged weapons, they'd shoot me in the back if I ran. If it wasn't, I could strike first and decide what to do next. I picked up a piece of broken gravestone. When the Tribute came up next to me, I jumped up and smashed it into his head.

 _Oh crap,_ I thought as the boy fell. It seemed so slow, but I still didn't have time to catch him before he fell against the gravestone and hit his head again. _Oh crap. Oh crap. It's Lyte._

"I'm so sorry!" I said. I bent down next to him. He wasn't moving, and his head was bleeding way more than it should have been. "I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

 _No no no._ I didn't know it was Lyte. I would never have attacked if I'd known. Even if it wasn't political suicide, I just didn't want to hurt him. It was so senseless. He probably came out to see if anyone needed a doctor. Someone needed a doctor now.

"What do I do?" I asked Lyte. I needed him to tell me how to fix him. But he didn't say anything. I tried to stop the bleeding and his head shifted under my hands. I tried to hold him together as my tears dropped onto him. I didn't mean it.

He took my hand weakly before his cannon sounded. I hoped it meant he'd heard my apologies and it was okay. I hoped it wasn't just a reflex. I'd never been sorrier in my life.

* * *

Emmeline Blythe

There were nine of us left after the cannon. The Anthem hadn't played yet so I didn't know who they were, but I had my suspicions. I suspected the survivors were me, Des, Apollo, Gizmo, Vera, Frankie, Peach, Jack, and Vextrix. As always happened with new deaths, the Game had shifted and the odds were different.

The obvious prediction for Victor was Vera. She was the strongest and the only one that was trained. Along with Frankie, she was unstoppable. Even Jack couldn't stand against those two. The only thing that could stop her was Frankie. It seemed unlikely, but if he turned against her, she'd likely be too shocked to fight back. If he did turn, he'd take her by surprise.

If it wasn't Frankie or Vera, it would almost certainly be Jack. His intimidation factor made him even more dangerous than he would have been otherwise. He was merciless and capable. I couldn't fight him, and neither could most of us.

After Jack came Des. Apollo was strong, but Des was smarter, and with his hand, she could outfight him if she fought intelligently. Des wasn't ruthless, but she was more cunning than Apollo. We all reached the point where we were willing to kill eventually. Des would reach it faster than Apollo. Gizmo would try to manipulate her, but Des was smarter than she looked. I wouldn't be surprised if she killed him.

After Des and Apollo, I finally had a place. I was fifth out of nine. Not the worst, but a long way from the top. I was vulnerable alone and that almost knocked me below Gizmo, but his fragile alliance with Des left him more at risk. I didn't want to fight Peach, but if she was alone and I could pick the battle, I could pull it off. Vextrix didn't want to fight. I could avoid her and hope the Gamemakers killed her for boring them. If just one more person died, I'd be in the top half for odds. It was still a long shot.

* * *

 **12th place: Lyte Anderson- mistakenly killed by Kerry**

 **Lyte was mine so unless he's overwhelmingly the favorite he wasn't going to win. I was afraid he'd get too Mary Sue so this time I threw a disease he couldn't cure at him. He took it hard but he's a resilient kid. He lived this long partly because he was going to die eventually no matter what and partly because no one wanted to kill him. The obvious choice was Jack but Jack actually doesn't like killing people 12 or younger. There's no reason it was Kerry who did it. I just picked someone with a fight reflex who was small enough to think he was a threat, so it was basically him or Peach. Please don't hold it against Kerry. He's super sorry and he didn't know it was Lyte.**

 **Speaking of Kerry, I've been writing with my stomach. It's Selmosa, not the delicious fried Indian treat.**

 **Where is everyone? I know I write fast, but only two people have been commenting regularly lately. It's not that I resent it because 1. that would be stupid 2. I write fast 3. People have lives, but I like to know what people want for the ending so I can tailor the story. I have a pretty good idea of what will happen, but it can still change.**


	75. Friday the 13th

**First off: a note on Frankie. He is currently a viable contender for Victor and isn't necessarily going to be in a side story. I don't want to give anything away so I've leaving it open, but for the moment, he has the same chance as the other Tributes. I just mentioned it so the meta knowledge that there's a possibility of a side story doesn't affect the outcome.**

* * *

Jay Dallas

Jack came out of nowhere. It seemed impossible that such a slow-moving behemoth could sneak up on anyone, but he almost took my head off before I even noticed him. I sensed something- maybe the breeze from his machete- and dodged at the last second, so close the blade scraped my ear. I took out my sword even as I jumped back out of the way. We regarded each other for a moment, and the deathmatch was on.

Jack made the first move. He lumbered toward me like he thought I was going to lay down and beg for mercy. He had another think coming. I brought up my sword and blocked his downward strike. I strained back as he tried to force me to my knees. My hands throbbed and out blades slid across each other with metallic scrapes. I looked up into his mask, and the dark eyeholes stared back.

I leaned back suddenly and jumped to one side as Jack's momentum carried him forward. I dodged the expected slash as he fell and swung my sword just as he swung his machete again. The two blades clashed together and the force nearly jerked the sword from my hand. My sword shuddered and snapped. The upper half spiraled out into the night sky and landed in the dirt.

Jack thought he knew what was going to happen next, but I was way ahead of him. I knew there was only one way this could turn out for me. But it wasn't what he thought.

I didn't dodge when Jack stabbed his machete at my chest. I knew as well as he did that a single stab was rarely fatal immediately. I let the machete pass through me and stumbled back a step, as if in shock. Jack stopped to watch my death throes and enjoy the view, and I took another step back as I fumbled at the blade sticking out of me. I pulled it out and bent forward, like I'd used the last of my energy. Jack tired of the game and stepped forward to finish it.

It was what I'd been waiting for. I straightened up and used all my last reserves in a swing that would have made Jake proud. The machete sliced through Jack's neck in a flash of light and his head sailed into the air in a graceful arc.

 _Home run, Jake. Austin. Zach. Demarcus, Blaise, Logan, Cooper. All of you,_ I thought as I waited for the second cannon. He wouldn't be killing anyone else. I slowly settled to the ground as my blood drained out. I felt like Beowulf, succumbing to his wounds only after the dragon was slain. There was no vengeance for me, but still I felt triumphant.

* * *

Jack Void

 _It hurts, mother. I thought it wasn't going to hurt anymore. Not as long as there was no water pulling me down. But I'm falling down again, mother. I love you._

* * *

Vextrix Webb

Kerry was being awfully quiet lately. He was never this quiet. Were we getting another plague? I didn't know if I could bear that.

"You all right?" I asked as we ate stale sticky buns around our fire. He jerked up and yanked his hand from the basket like he'd been stealing from it.

"Nothing's wrong!" he said.

"Dang, you don't have to be so jumpy. You're creeping me out," I said. Maybe it was just the fire, but he looked pale. _Please don't be sick..._

"It's fine! I'm fine!" he said. His face got all red and he started to cry out of nowhere. I was so dumbfounded I didn't even follow when he jumped up and ran off.

"You leaving?" I called after him. I could never tell what he was thinking.

"Give me a minute!" he called, his voice all frazzled. I had zero idea what was going on, but if he wanted to be alone, I could handle that.

There had been two more cannons recently. I was seven people away from getting home. It had been so long I didn't know what I'd do when I got back. It was getting to where I thought anywhere else was just a fantasy. It couldn't really be that there was a place where the sky was bright and trees had leaves. It was a dream that there was a time I wasn't scared every second. It was a whole new world here, and I could hardly imagine going back to the old one. It would be a staggering change. I'd never see home the same way. The monsters I saw here would always be with me.

* * *

 **11th place: Jack Void- beheaded by Jay**

 **I think we all know why Jack was submitted. I needed someone to kill Tributes since there were 75 of them and one Career. Tinks was kind enough to send in basically Jason Voorhees to do the job. We switched a few details and had our diabolus ex machina. That's why he didn't get many POVs. There's not much in Jason's head. It's also why I messed up and called him Jason a few times. Hopefully his fight with similarly-named Jay wasn't too confusing to read. I faithfully did my homework and watched a compilation of every time Jason died so it would be accurate. The only time he definitely died was part III, and that was by his own machete, so that's what I did.**

 **10th place: Jay Dallas- stabbed by Jack**

 **Like I told Jayman, I choose Victors by a handful of criteria. The one Jay missed was popularity. It's not the most important thing but I do want to choose someone people aren't ambivalent toward, and most people were neutral on Jay. If the people didn't want him, the next best thing was to give him, pardon my French, a badass death. He didn't win, but he killed Jason Voorhees, which is pretty cool since he once actually fell to Earth from space and survived. People liked him more this time and Jayman's already using what he learned to craft his next contender.**


	76. The Invisible Man

**I accidentally marked River dead so she got skipped a while. Sorry about that and I'm glad I caught it before it got even worse.**

* * *

 **Gizmo Torrens-** Emmaline Blythe

Excellent. I wouldn't have guessed that. My chances were markedly better. But then, those that remained were far stronger than I was. If Gizmo hadn't been so duplicitous, I'd have wanted him with me to help me think.

* * *

 **Junie Brett-** River Summers

She might still be alive if I'd stayed with her. I hardened my heart to her death. Not to her- I could never manage that. Just to her death. It was necessary if I was going to live. Her death was what I was hoping for if I wanted to live. I had to face it.

* * *

 **Elara Angelo-** Des Redwood

It was too bad about Elara. She was pretty cute, and I got a vibe like I was her type. Of course I had a million other things on my mind, but in a perfect world...

* * *

 **Inky Balboa-** Peach Unk

I should have known I'd be the last one standing. I was the meanest, dirtiest one of us all. I was the only one who ever really had a chance. I was the only killer. Inky was a philosopher, a scholar, an artist, a friend, a nurturer, but never a soldier. That was the one thing she needed to be.

* * *

 **Lyte Anderson-** Vera Busattil

 _Who did it? Who did this?_

If I found out, I'd give him what he deserved. No doubt Lyte went up to his own murderer and died trying to help someone who stabbed him in the back. That was the only way it could have happened. I thought of the brave little boy who stared a demon bat down and never left me. He wasn't afraid to die, but whoever killed him was going to be.

* * *

 **Jack Void-** Apollo Wilson

 _Oh, good. That guy was so creepy._

* * *

 **Jay Dallas-** Vextrix Webb

He was from my District. I remembered seeing his brother in the sky and hoping he was all right. Of course he wasn't, though. His brother died. None of us were all right.

* * *

Des Redwood

Whoever it was that sponsored me, I would be their slave for life. I would peel grapes for them and serve as their loyal footstool. Because they rocked.

Three was probably involved with my gift, since it was niftiest gadget I'd ever seen. I thought it was just a dumb overcoat until I put it on and disappeared. My dreams of invisible invincibility were crushed when I saw it wasn't really an _invisibility cloak_ so much as I was just a lot harder to see. It wasn't perfect camouflage and I knew human vision was super acute as far as movement was concerned, but it was pretty good, especially in a dark Arena. The only weak spot was my eyes. If they didn't reflect light I couldn't see, since that was the definition of vision, so unless I covered them with the cloak and blinded myself, Tributes would see two little eyes if they looked at the right spot.

I felt like my old self again. I could imagine a million pranks to play if I got out of this. Naturally, my mind went straight to the gutter. If I got back, I could sneak into Harley's dressing room and peep. Not that I'd ever do something so perverted. But I'd want to.

I felt like a prowling tiger stalking the Arena. Other than Frankie and Vera, I could fight anyone I came across. If I could sneak up on one of them, I could wound them and run off, leaving them weaker for the next attack. I was unstoppable.

I was unstoppable until I tripped over my axe and almost killed myself. It was hard keeping a giant battle axe hidden under a cloak. I'd have to watch myself, or the hovercraft wouldn't even know where to pick me up.

* * *

River Summers

It was worse being close to the end. If I died early on, my father didn't have to worry so long. As much as it would hurt, and least there wouldn't be false hope. He could grieve again and start to put himself back together again. Every day I lived, a little more hope would flare up in him, even if he tried to quell it. The longer I lived, the more I'd hurt him if I died. I couldn't bear the pressure.

Junie and Ever were dead. I hoped it wasn't what I thought. I hoped Junie hadn't pushed herself to the limit trying to save Ever, and died either of exhaustion or despair when she failed. Or worse, maybe Ever gained enough strength to kill Junie and then died without a medic to care for her. If I'd stayed, everything would have been different. But I needed to stay alive.

The sky was dark and full of stars. They'd never seemed so bright before. They were like a million candles lighting the way. It used to be there was a brighter star, one that lit up the world. One of us was going to see it again. It had been night for so long. One of us would see another day eventually. Somewhere out in the world, there was light. I wanted to see it again.

* * *

Peach Unk

"Leave me alone!"

I was bruised and scared. My arms were covered in sore scratches from invisible fingernails. When the ghost wasn't calling me horrible names, it was screaming at me. That was even worse.

It wasn't fair to send a ghost into the Arena. I couldn't stab something with no body. I always knew the Games were rigged. Anyone the ghost was after didn't have a chance.

Something invisible moved in front of me. There was nothing there, but I could tell something was moving. The air swam and something non-corporeal moved nauseatingly. Two eyes materialized before me, and my mouth fell open dumbly.

 _It's appearing. It's coming for you. She's coming for you._ Elara's hand winked out of nowhere and grabbed me by the throat. She lifted me like a kitten and slammed me against a grave. I thought she'd look vengeful, but she just looked resigned. It didn't stop her from finishing the job.

* * *

 **9th place: Peach Unk- head injuries caused by Des**

 **People rallied around Peach at the end. Her irreverent boldness and brash energy were nice in contrast to a lot of scared and calculating Tributes. She always shook things up, and she was willing to get dirty. She had a lessened chance because my sister submitted her, but she wasn't disqualified. She didn't end up winning, but she's a definite fan favorite.**

 **I didn't specifically plan out the details and limitations of Des' camouflage cloak, but I'll be monitoring so it doesn't give her unfair advantage.**


	77. My Bloody Valentine

Vera Busattil

There were so few of us left, we could be less careful. We were still watching our backs every minute, but if we were together, the only thing we had to worry about were Gamemaker surprises. We didn't have to stay inside our building whenever we weren't hunting. The Arena was quiet around us, and Frankie and I were looking at the stars.

Almost everything in the Arena was frightful and twisted. The Gamemakers wanted the endless night to be terrifying, but there was one thing they missed. The stars were still lovely. They stretched out forever, and I felt closer to the outside world. I couldn't see the edges of the Arena, but I could see the stars that lay outside it. They were the same stars I saw back home, and it was like seeing a piece of the place I belonged. Frankie was lying next to me, and it was the closest I'd been to happiness in a long time.

"I'd stay here forever if I could," I said.

"Why?" Frankie asked, blunt as ever. Romantic he was not.

"If I get out, that would mean you'd be dead. There's nothing out there worth getting back to. Just dead children and people like me learning how to kill more. I'd rather live in a graveyard with you," I said. Frankie didn't say anything, so I set up the scene.

"We could make ourselves a home in whatever bonehouse we wanted. We could hunt bats and live off grave food and puddle water. If we get attacked by mutts, we'll deal with it together. That's the only killing I want to do anymore."

"It sounds as good as anything else," Frankie said. The sky shimmered above me. Some of the stars shifted, like there was a disturbance in space. Some intuitive sense tingled inside me and I acted without thought.

After everything, I was still a Career. I was trained in combat, detection, and stealth. I knew stars didn't move and the only thing that caused such an irregularity in the Arena was a threat. When I saw the stars shift above Frankie, I started to get up. When I saw the glimpse of flesh, I moved to intercept it. When the metal winked into sight, I was already in place.

* * *

Frankie Disney

Vera shot up like a rocket and threw herself over me. She got frisky sometimes, so I wasn't alarmed. But when I got a look at her face, there was nothing sensual in it. Even an emotional cipher like me could see the purpose and urgency in her eyes.

What happened next came in flashes. There was the blur of Vera moving across me. Then a swimming movement in the air like an invisible mutt was moving. Then a disembodied hand in the air, and finally a glint of metal. It arced down at us and the force of impact pressed Vera into me so hard I could feel her heartbeat. The urgency went out of her eyes and was replaced with relief. Only then did I know what she'd already figured out.

I grabbed the shaft of the axe that stuck out of her back and lurched sideways. The Tribute holding it cried out and I felt her tumbling over us both. I rolled out from under Vera as the girl hit the ground. The cloak that had been obscuring her was tousled by the fall, and I could see her face. I kept my grip on the shaft and kicked her face, snapping it backward and breaking her grip.

I didn't know why I wanted to make it painful. I didn't feel anything any more than I ever did. For some reason, like I wanted to eat or wanted to avoid pain, I wanted the girl to hurt. More than that, I wanted her dead, and that had a purpose. I held the head of the axe in both hands and reared up on my knees. As the girl recovered from my kick and scooted back, I brought it down on her head.

I didn't have enough room to get the force I needed. The strike cracked her skull but didn't shatter it. She tried to push herself back further and get back under her cloak. I grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head closer. I struck her again on the throat, and I left her gurgling behind me as I turned to Vera. She was pale and panting on her stomach. I gathered her up in my arms, because I knew she'd like that.

"Why?" I asked. She knew what was coming and deliberately put herself in danger. I showed love with sacrifice because I didn't know any other way, but there were a million ways Vera showed her love for me.

"Because you're worth it," she whispered. She reached up at my face and I leaned into her touch so she didn't have to move. She brought her head forward weakly and kissed me. She couldn't keep her head up, so I put my arm behind it to support her. I kept her there, nestled against my cheek, until she was dead. I was empty, and she was wrong that I deserved it, but I could do that much for her.

A few days ago, I said something to Vera. I meant it then, but it was only really true now. Now there was nothing left to be afraid of.

* * *

Des Redwood

I didn't know they were that devoted. I didn't expect Vera to protect Frankie instead of looking for the best way to fight back. I didn't think Careers cared about anything but killing and living. Vera always was a strange Career. Now I could see just how strange she was.

I felt guilty even as I fought for my life against Frankie. I wanted to live, but I hadn't meant to kill his love right in front of him like that. I was glad he was cold and dead inside and it wouldn't hurt him like most people. I wouldn't have felt guilty about killing him. That's why I aimed for him, but Vera had other ideas.

I knew I was in over my head after that, and I just tried to get away. Frankie had other ideas, too. And he killed me, I almost felt like I deserved it.

* * *

 **8th place: Desiree Redwood- axe murdered by Frankie**

 **Des' submitter asked if her gift was okay and I said I'd send it and write it in a way that didn't give her too much advantage. It was more a camouflage material than an actual invisibility cloak and it worked a lot better than normal because the Arena is still dark. But she still had to make her weapon visible to strike, and that was enough for Frankie. Des hardened up and really became a force to be reckoned with this time. She was already formidable, but she got even stronger. She was a possible Victor, but I got a different idea. As it was, she had a great placing, since there were 73 Tributes.**

 **7th place: Vera Busattil- axe murdered by Des**

 **I let Vera in even though she was a Career because in-universe, the Gamemakers wanted to see Vera and Frankie together again. Out of universe, she was never as strong or devoted as a lot of Careers and practically did it all on a lark. I didn't consider her ineligible for victory but her chances were lessened because I didn't want the only Career to win the non-Career Games unless everyone wanted it. Last time Frankie sacrificed himself for her, and it brought things full circle to have her do the same here. She knew he loved her even if he couldn't show it, and it was something worth dying for.**


	78. Braindead

Shelle McDan

I hoped she knew what she was doing. I'd seen people die for something in Games before. They always seemed to go out happier than the actual Victors. It was bizarre how she ended up bonded so deeply to Frankie the robot boy, but he made her happy and she loved him. If she was happy with her choice, more power to her.

* * *

District Four

We thought it was in the bag. Vera was the only Career among a bunch of scared kids. But the outliers were coming into their own and finding strength we never thought they had. If only they'd been more like that during the Dark Days.

* * *

Pray Jager

I knew it was a long shot. I mostly just trained the yahoos because I was going stir crazy. I never would have dreamed Lyte would last the longest, but he _was_ sponging off two of the strongest. After how he talked to me, I was looking forward to the Bloodbath. Then Velvet went instead and I didn't know what to expect anymore. I was actually right about Ree, Addie, and Hadley. I thought they were all going to die.

* * *

District Six

Panem didn't deserve Lyte. We took up a collection and set up a medical fund in his memory. Ree, Addie, Hadley, and Velvet went back to their graves with a fresh coating of flowers and mourning. We were glad we hadn't lost anyone else, but losing them again was just as bad as the first time, even if we knew it was coming.

* * *

Nubu Sanders

I was half-dead after the Bloodbath. Demi had mostly handled the girls, and after Chase died I threw myself into raising funds to help the others. I felt guilty for every second I rested and Demi actually got a doctor to ban me from the Games building. She said I was going to have a nervous breakdown. It didn't matter if I did. If I could have worked just a few days longer and sent something that saved one of them, it would have been worth it.

* * *

District Twelve

Just when our shameful secret had been forgotten, they dragged Jack up from the grave. We were working hard on forgetting him again. There was no love lost for Mindi or Beth either, but the others were something else. There were three tiny coffins ready when they came back. Alinta, Mouse, and Chase were too small to go to funerals, and here they were at the center. Peach's sister visited her every so often, and we finally forgave Merle for something she never meant to do anyway. We didn't think Elara had any family left, but there were always flowers on her grave, and once in a while, strange things happened in the cemetery. But there were stranger things in Twelve.

* * *

River Summers

Even with the nightly Anthems, I had no idea how long I'd been in the Arena. Without daylight, it just seemed like an endless night. I couldn't even tell how disoriented I was. If I got out and they said it had only been a day, I'd believe it. If they said it had been a year, I'd believe it.

I didn't know how much longer I could stay sane. I had trouble keeping thoughts in my head. They blurred together, just like the hours. I wanted to scream or cry or get mad at something, but I didn't know what it was. I was always tired, but when I slept, there was no way to know how long it was. I was losing my mind.

I thought I was seeing things when I stood up from behind a tree and saw a girl. But she looked just as surprised to see me. A phantom wouldn't look like that. I recognized Emmeline from training. She was the smart one. I could tell she was already calculating the best course of action. She'd know it in seconds, and if I didn't end it now, she'd come for me when the time was right. So I went with a different strategy. I ran straight at her without thinking.

Emmeline knew if she ran, I might be able to overtake her and stab her in the back. So she held out her dagger, thinking that I'd pause and she'd be able to strategize. Instead I just kept going. I took the blow against my ribs because I knew she didn't have the strength to break through them. As she was stabbing my chest, I was stabbing hers, and my blade was much stronger and heavier. It knocked her onto her back and she knew the game was up. She tried to crawl backwards anyway, but she watched me come for her and looked resigned when I help up my sword.

I tried to be merciful. I aimed for the head, so she'd go quick and wouldn't bleed out slowly. I wondered after if she'd have preferred a different spot. She was so dependent on her brain until I smeared it all over my sword.

* * *

Emmeline Blythe

I knew I couldn't win by brawn. Intelligence was my only hope, and the other girl knew exactly how to fight me. She didn't try to outthink me, even though she seemed pretty sharp herself. She knew that this time, brute strength was the way. I had to give her credit for it. Most people wanted to think of themselves as smarter than average. This girl just wanted to win.

* * *

 **6th place: Emmeline Blythe- stabbed by River**

 **Emmeline is one of my pet favorites. She's whip-smart and I would have considered her to win, but she came from before most current readers were here and most people had different favorites so she was an underrated gem. She tends to last a long time, even when everyone else is way stronger, but she hasn't won yet just because she doesn't have the following. I think she's super cool and if she wasn't a Tribute, she'd probably have cured cancer or something by now.**


	79. Pulse

**Peach Unk-** Apollo Wilson

She seemed pretty kickass. I wasn't surprised she lasted so long. It was eerie how few of us there were left. There were so many before. It just made me feel closer to death, not victory.

* * *

 **Desiree Redwood-** River Summers

I was the only one left from Seven. I didn't have any misplaced patriotism about it. I didn't care where the dead people came from as long as they weren't me.

* * *

 **Vera Busattil-** Frankie Disney

Vera was up in the sky, by all the stars. She would have liked that. She was sensitive and romantic. She felt so many things I couldn't understand.

* * *

 **Emmeline Blythe-** Kerry Selmosa

I couldn't believe I'd outlived her. I'd expected Emmeline to have some intricate chess game in place and get us all to kill each other without even knowing it. But people were rarely as grandiose as we thought.

* * *

Vextrix Webb

The Gamemakers wanted me to go out and look for a fight, but they were in for a long wait. I hadn't gotten this far by killing people. I'd gotten this far by not getting killed.

Kerry was finally back. Something was bothering him, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. It was creeping me out. In this Arena, I could only assume it was some eldritch horror worse than the stuff we'd already seen. Either that or he killed someone. But that was nothing to be ashamed of here.

I wasn't even doing anything, but my heart was palpitating. I could sense the upcoming finale after so long, and I was scared stiff. It would have been better to die in the Bloodbath and never see all these horrors than go through them just to die.

"Vex?" Kerry asked.

"Yeah?" I said.

"What are we gonna do... you know, when we get closer to the end?" he asked.

"You know me. I don't want to fight. What do you say we both a pick a direction and start walking?" I said. Kerry and I weren't bosom buddies, but I didn't think he'd stab me in the back.

"That sounds good," Kerry said. Then there was an arrow through his neck. He toppled forward, coughing as he put his hands to the wound. I picked a direction and started running.

The arrow caught me in the leg and I kept going. Another bounced off my shoulder blade before I could run behind a mausoleum. I still didn't want to fight, but there was no way out. At least when Frankie came to finish it, we'd be at close range and I'd have a chance.

I listened for footsteps, but all I heard was Kerry's cannon. I kept pressure on my leg and leaned against the wall to try to keep the shoulder blood in. My head started to spin and I sat down to keep the blood closer to my heart. I wrapped a strip of cloth around my leg, but it was hard to tighten it with stiff, clumsy fingers. My skin grew cold and clammy, and my breath was shallow even though I wasn't moving.

I would have kept running, but Frankie was out there waiting. I thought he'd come for me, but he never did. The blood on my shirt grew cold and chilled me. I curled up on the ground, my spear still beside me if he did come. I was afraid at first, but it really wasn't that much of a change for me. I'd been through this before.

* * *

Kerry Selmosa

I was pumped for the finale. It scared me half to death, but I was glad it was going to be over with soon. I was tired of hovering between life and death. Let it come, one or the other. With the blowgun I'd been sponsored, I might even have a chance. But no matter what, I couldn't bring myself to fight Vextrix. Not only was she stronger than me, but I didn't trust myself to see it through after Lyte. It was bad enough I'd killed him. I didn't think I had it in me to kill my last friend. I was glad she felt the same way.

Neither of us had to in the end. The finale came for me before I knew it. It took a few minutes for me to die, and as scary as it was, I must have looked really cool with an arrow sticking through my neck. It was something out of a cheap adventure novel.

Vextrix took off like a spooked rabbit. She knew what was good for her. I'd have run too if I could have stood. I hoped she kept running all the way to the end.

* * *

 **5th place: Kerry Selmosa- shot by Frankie**

 **Kerry was out of his element here. He kept himself alive with quick thinking and resilience even though the Arena terrified him. Kerry faced a daunting Arena with indomitable will right up to the end.**

 **4th place: Vextrix Webb- blood loss and shock from Frankie's arrows**

 **Vex was a pragmatist. Even if she felt detached from the danger of the Arena, she wasn't courting trouble. She wasn't being a coward, just a realist. She would have fought Frankie if he'd come, because she was cornered, but he was smart enough to strike and wait until she bled out. Vextrix stabilized her alliance with her cool head and her steady hand. She was the strongest member and the last to go.**


	80. Misery

Frankie Disney

What did it matter who died when? I could only come close to caring about one person, and she was gone. There was no telling myself she lived on in my heart or she'd watch over me forever. She was dead. Her body was empty and cold. There was no warmth in her heart and no love in her brain. She was like me now.

It didn't seem so cold and dark in the Arena anymore. It was only the way it was. Dark, light, warm, cold, it was only life. Life that went on when people died. People said they'd die if they lost their love. It didn't really work like that. You died when your body stopped working. Love had nothing to do with it. Love couldn't keep you alive.

They wanted so badly to scare me. A bone-white hand waved at me from the edge of a bottomless well. I walked by without a second glance. A hand broke out of the dirt under me and grabbed my ankle. I yanked my foot up and walked on with the hand still gripping me. A maggoty corpse rose from a coffin and shuffled toward me as it groaned. I shot it. They were barking up the wrong tree. They could send anything they wanted.

The only thing left was to stay alive. Some animal instinct in my broken brain preserved that drive. I hunted the Arena, searching for the last survivors, because it was the way to stay alive. Hunger and sickness weren't what killed Tributes in the end. It was the survival of someone else that did it. As always, I wasn't acting out of vengeance or passion. It was just a cold equation.

* * *

Apollo Wilson

Gizmo's blood was on my cheek. I kept trying to wipe it off, but it was still there. Then there was more of it. It burned my skin. I wanted so badly to be rid of it that I clenched my fingers into my leg to stop from ripping the cheek away.

Flying things tore children from the ground and tentacles tore them apart. A girl lay on the ground, pale and still. A boy's head tore from his shoulders and dangling veins spurted blood. Another girl's dead eyes pointed in different directions, neither of them seeing anything. And then a boy's life sprayed all over me. Gizmo's brains were lodged in my hair.

I knelt against a gravestone and cried. I couldn't even remember all the children who had died. Faces and body parts flitted behind my eyes. I couldn't stop seeing them. Soon I'd start hearing them. I wanted to hear Pepper's voice. I wanted to see her again, but I didn't want her to be here. She was safe somewhere. I didn't want her to be near me. Death was near me. I was never going to get away from it. It stained me like the bloodstain on my cheek.

A long time ago, Pepper and I locked arms and started to wrestle. My arms were twice the size of hers, but she wouldn't give up. She strained back at me, then suddenly shoved a finger at my eye. I blinked and jerked back, and she slammed my hand onto the table. We had a laugh and said she was stronger than me. She _was_ stronger than me. That was why she was a Victor and I died again and again. She had to be stronger than me, because she kept watching it.

The faces and deaths were in my head, but then one was in front of me. I didn't remember how the girl died. She was the one with the beautiful hair. It was still so beautiful. It reflected off her sword. I jumped up and grabbed both her hands in mine. They were warm. She wasn't dead. Somehow, there was someone still alive here. I felt her warm skin and saw the life in her eyes and trembled.

* * *

River Summers

Apollo heard me at the last minute. He jumped up and grabbed my arms. His grip was like iron, and panic filled me. He could shove my sword back into me without any effort, or he could snap my neck like a bird's. He felt the skin on my arm with his thumb and trembled.

"You're alive," he said. His eyes filled with tears, and he dropped my arms. I was so stunned I didn't react for a moment. He looked at my hair and smiled.

"Stay alive," he said. I stepped back and held up my sword. I thought he'd fight back or run. I _wanted_ him to fight back or run. It was worse that he watched me take aim and waited. I couldn't bear it.

"Aren't you going to fight?" I asked. My arm wavered. I'd seen things in the Arena I'd never be free of, but the worst was Apollo's tears.

"I'm not strong enough," he said.

 _Fight,_ I begged him. I closed my eyes and shoved the sword forward. I tipped him forward so he fell face-down. I only opened my eyes after his face was hidden. I couldn't bear to see him.

* * *

Pepper Wilson

I saw Apollo die once. I saw him die twice. I saw him die three times. Then I saw River stab him. Somewhere along the way, I died with him.

* * *

 **3rd place: Apollo Wilson- stabbed by River**

 **It was inevitable that someone would lose their mind in this Arena. Apollo wore his heart on his sleeve, and he was half the man he would have been with Pepper. They never should have been separated. Pepper moved on to victory, but Apollo wasn't a killer. He didn't have Pepper's strength. He was strong as an ox, but not strong enough to kill. His sanity started to slip away after he saw Gizmo die, and his spirit slipped away with it.**


	81. 30 Days of Night

**I should clarify that Vextrix's final POV took place over multiple hours. This, combined with the fact that her shoulder wound was difficult for her to reach, is how she bled to death.**

* * *

Frankie Wilson

Time came. Time went. I walked between stones and I walked past buildings. The anthem had played three times since the last cannon. Only River and I were left, so there were no faces in the sky. Without the projected faces every twenty-four hours, it was even darker. Even the light of the morning star seemed painfully bright. I never knew there were so many gradients to shadow. I could see a whole new spectrum made entirely of shades of gray.

We could be in here for weeks still. We were stumbling around in the dark, trying to find a very small target in a very large Arena. At some point, the Gamemakers might lose patience and smite one of us or drive us together. But we were the last two. More likely they wanted to see us find each other.

It was so lonely even I noticed it. Even though it was empty noise, I looked forward to the occasionally cries of the wolves. The spectral scraping of chains and the howls of the ghostly man kept me company in the empty Arena. Sometime soon I would have human company again, and the one of would be alone.

* * *

River Summers

I didn't want to get up. I wanted to lie on the ground and keep my eyes closed. If they were closed, it was dark because it was supposed to be. It wasn't the cursed, godforsaken darkness of this place. I was crying again, and I didn't know when I had started. I didn't think I had the energy to get up.

They were trying to drive me mad, and I was so close. There was only one person left. I only had to get through one last push. I had to find Frankie and kill him, and then I'd be free. I couldn't break yet. But I couldn't find him.

I didn't know how long it had been. I would hear the Anthem and add it to my count, but I couldn't remember if I'd already added it. It seemed like impossibly complex math just to count that high. I lost my place before the music had ended. It frustrated me so much I started crying all over again.

I didn't know if I was starving or overfull. My stomach hurt, but I couldn't remember a time when it hadn't. Whenever I ate, whatever I ate, it tasted like sand. It was hard to remember the purpose of eating. For a moment I forgot what I was looking for entirely. I remembered Frankie faintly and put myself back together.

Fury flared up in me and I kicked a headstone. It bruised my foot and sent a shockwave all the way to my still tender ribs. I'd bandaged the wound an eternity ago, when I got it. It was still sore and red, but it didn't seem to be infected. Even germs couldn't live in this place. The fury left, and the sadness returned.

* * *

Frankie Disney

I picked a direction and started to walk. It must have taken me hours, but I reached the stone wall that marked the Arena borders. For a moment I wondered what was on the other side, but I didn't risk climbing up to look. I might have been punished for trying to escape, and I didn't think the outside world lay on the other side. I had a feeling that even if I looked beyond the borders, I'd see more Arena. Or something else that would scare even me.

When I found a corner, I turned around and started to patrol. I would have to search every inch of the Arena for River. I'd walk back and forth, taking a step to the side each time. It would have been maddeningly boring for anyone else, but it was only logical to me. On one of those lonely patrols, I was sure to find her, or at least a trace of her. She was looking for me at the same time. Maybe she was even doing the same thing.

* * *

River Summers

I'd never been much of a talker, but I couldn't take the silence anymore. As I broke branches off a barren tree, I had a conversation with it.

"Hello, tree. How have you been?" I asked.

"Fine, River. How are you?" I answered myself. I knew it wasn't really the tree, but it felt good to pretend.

"Not so good. But I'll keep going," I said.

"You can do it. You're almost there," I encouraged myself.

"Thanks, tree. Sorry I took your branches," I said.

"It's okay. They were dead anyway. I feel much lighter now."

I tossed the branches almost maniacally onto my fire. I wanted it to get bigger forever. A fire was a light, and a light was something that wasn't darkness. Its crackling noises were something other than silence. I watched it dance like a beautiful woman.

A crazy idea came to me, and I got ready to talk myself out of it, like the time I thought it would be a genius idea to cut my eyes out so it wouldn't be dark. The Arena was doing weird things to me, but I wasn't going to let it drive me to suicide. I was bending, but I wouldn't let it break me.

But even when I stopped to consider the idea, it wasn't crazy. I'd wanted to light a dozen more fires, so the light would fill the Arena. It actually made sense, just not for the reason I'd wanted to do it. Frankie and I were looking for each other, but this was a big Arena. We might have crossed paths a million times. If one of us stayed still, the other had a chance. If one of us was surrounded by a dozen blazing fires, the other could find her.

Giddiness filled me as I prepared more wood. It was going to be light again. But the Arena beat me to it. A sudden light filled the sky. I cried out and bent over with my head pressed to the ground, shielding my seared eyes. Then, even though it hurt, I turned to look.

* * *

Frankie Disney

The Gamemakers were bored. It didn't feel like Anthem time yet, but the sound of a tolling iron bell rang out. Far out at the edges of the horizon, I saw half a dozen greenish light pop up. Some of them were laughing, and others were screaming. A flaming white light burned my eyes and spelled out a message in the sky.

 **RISE**


	82. I Am Legend

River Summers

I wanted the darkness back. I wanted the silence back. I should have known this was coming. The Resurrection Games... of course there would be resurrection. And of the course the ones I killed would come for me.

When I first saw a pale greenish patch of light, I ran toward it. I heard it laughing, and I should have run the other way. I didn't let myself stop to think about it and reason with myself. I wanted the light and the noise, even if it was a mutt.

I recognized the place where the light was materializing. It was the place I killed Emmeline. Blood was seeping up out of the dead grass. I knew what was coming, but it was all the horror I could take. I stood dumbly and watched as Emmeline swam into vision. She was pale and pallid, and the wound from my sword still split her head.

I thought she would fly at me and kill me where I stood, but she was still. She held up one arm in a fluid, inhuman movement and pointed a finger at me.

"Murderer," she said. Blood spurted from the wound in her head after she said it. She took a step toward me. "Murderer."

I backed away from her and she advanced at the same pace. I started to run and she followed, droning her monologue. She kept pace with me even though she was walking. Somehow she warped forward, like the ground was moving under her. She swooped around in front of me and I changed directions. She drove me forward through the Arena, always catching up and yet never catching me. Somewhere along the way, another voice joined hers. It was a deeper voice. A masculine voice.

"Murderer."

* * *

Frankie Wilson

Now I knew exactly who I had killed. The two girls were Calista and Sarla. In addition, there was Des and Vextrix. I knew because they were gathered around me in a semicircle, pointing at me and calling me a murderer. Which I was. When they first appeared, I'd thought the Gamemakers sent our victims after us to finish it and it would be a matter of who ran faster, like last time. But the specters were slow-moving and purposeful. They were herding us, not chasing us. When I figured that out, I let them guide me forward.

I wasn't in a rush. I didn't want to sprint until I reach River and end up exhausted. I walked easily and the specters followed impatiently. They could call me a murderer all they wanted. Spears and swords might kill me, but words were only words. I just wished they'd be quieter about it. It would be hard to hear River with their racket.

* * *

River Summers

There were more lights ahead of me. The others were coming around to trap me. I didn't even remember who else I'd killed. There was just Apollo and Emmeline. It must have been Ever. She still remembered, even if I wasn't there when she died.

But why were there four lights? And why was there a dark figure silhouetted against them? I cried with relief when I realized. Those were Frankie's lights. Frankie was the dark man, as dark as me in this Arena.

My sanity had stretched as thin as it could go. It was straining inside me to finally snap and be free. I only needed five more minutes. Just one more fight and this could be nothing but a nightmare memory. I closed my eyes and focused.

The lights weren't important. They weren't there. My victims were far away. I was far away. I was outside the Arena and outside my body, dissociated and detached. I'd just tell my body what to do and watch from a safe place as I killed Frankie and freed myself. There was no need for fear or emotion. Just one last action. I held up my sword.

* * *

Frankie Disney

River was ahead of me, starkly outlined by the two specters behind her. She ran at me as I readied an arrow. I could see her clearly, but she was moving and still far away. My arrow caught her in the arm instead of the heart. She kept running like she didn't even feel it. I shot her again, and the second arrow hit her chest. Again and again I shot, but still she came closer.

She crumpled ten feet away from me. She crawled on her hands and knees, dragging her sword behind her. She was shaking with tears. The specters clustered around her and their accusations drove her to scream. I ran to her and stood over her.

" _Shut up!"_ I yelled. "She's dying, all right? You win! So shut up!"

As though even the Gamemakers were ashamed, the specters vanished. It was dark and quiet again, except for River's cries. She tugged at my pants leg and I crouched down.

"Don't let it be quiet," she said. She looked up at the sky. "It's so dark."

There were half a dozen gaping wounds all over her. She was dying. She wasn't a threat anymore. Even if it didn't stir my emotions, I could still do what was right. I took a box of matches from my pocket and struck one. The tiny circle of light fell across her face and she smiled.

She didn't want it to be quiet, but I didn't know what to say. What did she want to hear? She was from Seven. There were forests there. The first thing that came to mind was something I remembered from years ago in school. I took her hand and started to speak.

* * *

River Summers

" _Tree at my window, window tree_

 _My sash is lowered when night comes on..."_

There was light. There was sound. There was life around me. Frankie's hand was warm. I stopped crying and smiled. I wanted my father to see me happy.

 _"But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,_

 _And if you have seen me when I slept,_

 _You have seen me when I was taken and swept_

 _And all but lost..."_

* * *

 **2nd place: River Summers**

 **River was Frankie's biggest threat for a long time. Both of them would have made great Victors and I waffled a long time. Then River's submitter actually said she thought Frankie was the right choice, so that helped me decide. River was an ideal Tribute. She had a story, she grew, she sacrificed, she changed, and she was a full character with a full voice. It could have been her. I would have been happy to have her as a Victor.**

 **Victor: Frankie Disney**

 **Like River's submitter said, this was Frankie's Arena. He was the only one immune to it. No one else could have withstood approximately two-three weeks in there and come out sane. After he lost Vera, there was nothing to stop him. He wiped out the other survivors not out of malice or fear but simple survival instinct. Even though he lacks emotion, he still manages to be a good guy. He does what he intellectually knows is right even though he doesn't get emotional benefits from it. He was capable, likeable, reasonably skilled but not overpowered, and so much more. He was everything a Victor needed to be. I still shouldn't have killed him the second time, but the stars aligned perfectly for this ending.**

 **This was a long freaking Games. It's surreal it's actually done now. I would have waited until night to post this for maximum atmosphere, but 1. I'm impatient 2. I'm going to the opera tonight 3. Lots of readers will see it later anyway. I'll work on the cleanup tomorrow.**


	83. Coronation

Sequoia Wilson

It was always worse when we got close. It must have been even harder for Nubu or Tillo. They didn't have anyone else to share the burden. It could have been Des, and it almost _was_ River. It was blind chance that it wasn't. To the universe, the only difference was a name, but it meant the world to Ree, Ever, Junie, Zetan, Reiner, and Asper.

* * *

District Seven

We all watched it happen. We didn't want to hope, but hope was still crushed when River died. We thought her father would kill himself. He started to give his possessions away, and we waited for it to happen. But something changed his mind, and he started a new project. We buried the rest and watched the new life begin.

* * *

Harlequin Marceau

I got my butt fired. Apparently it's super illegal for me to donate to a Tribute's sponsor fund. It's also super illegal to "fraternize" with them. Okay, I _did_ know that. I was just lucky age of consent is sixteen. I might have gotten my butt Avoxed if I wasn't so popular. Anyway, it was totally worth it. It was probably illegal somehow to stick a picture of Des on my dressing room mirror, but they have bigger fish to fry.

* * *

Frankie Disney

I'd forgotten what light looked like. I opened my eyes wide in wonder when I first saw it, but it burned me. I crossed my arms over my face as tears streamed from my scorched eyes. It was so bright I could feel it and hear it. I was quiet in my bed. My body was still a mess, and I didn't want to get in the way of its healing.

"How do you feel?" Orchard asked when she came in some hours later. It took me a minute to answer.

"I don't," I said. What kind of question was that?

"I brought you something," she said. She tossed a pair of sunglasses on my bed. "The latest fashion." I put them on and I could finally stop squinting.

"You seem none the worse for the wear," she said.

"Other than my eyes, pretty much. I probably lost some weight," I said. I looked under the blanket at myself. I wouldn't have been surprised to see perfect chiseled abs or a godly bronze sheen, but I looked like myself. I looked at the mirror on the wall next to me to see the rest of the damage.

They must have thought I was handsome already. My hair was shinier and my eyes were browner, but it was just refinements of things that were already there. I looked healthier and younger than when I went in, but I didn't look improved like most Victors. I wouldn't really have cared either way, but it was just as well.

"Normally I wouldn't want to rush, but I have a feeling you're ready," Orchard said.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I said. Being what I was had its advantages. There was no shrinking from shadows or crying about my losses. I just moved forward.

The stylists made me up like a Frankenstein's monster. My clothes were stylishly ripped and my makeup was pallid. If I'd been normal, I would have been hurt. But it made sense to present me as an unfeeling brute. I killed without remorse and I wasn't broken from the experience like I should have been.

"Here's our Victor! Welcome back, Frankie. You must be exhausted," Harlequin said when I took my spot across from her. It should have been Vera she was talking to.

"Yes, I'm pretty tired," I said. Harlequin knew by now she'd have to do the bulk of the work, so she sailed forward without pause.

"Even among seventy-three Tributes, few of us are surprised to see you came out on top. You were unstoppable," she said.

"I had it easier than most people," I said.

"Let's see the goods," Harlequin said. She turned to the audience. "Viewer discretion is advised."

The audience gasped and recoiled when horrible mutts and unspeakable deeds played again. I only cared about the parts with Vera. It was good to see her again.

I was supposed to be honored and awed in the presence of the great and majestic President Snow. I was respectful, since his kind had already killed me twice. I stayed seated as he came toward me. If I'd stood, I would have been too tall for him to crown. I didn't want to humiliate him.

Vera would have looked beautiful in a crown. It would have been elegant and sturdy, like she was. I always thought it would have been purple. Mine was adequate for its purpose. It was a dark circlet of smooth onyx. A simple, minimalist token of my new status. It wasn't pretty like Vera.

* * *

 **It was too short notice to get a new interviewer, so they let Harley do the exit interview.**


	84. Initiation Fail

I'd been around the Games long enough to know Victors always gathered to welcome a new addition. Vera always said she was going to have a party that would "knock the Games building sideways". It came as no shock to her when I said I was not a party animal.

I didn't see Pepper with the others when we gathered. I had a suspicion about where she was. If I was right, I'd find out soon enough. Things like that didn't stay hidden. The Victors that were there milled about awkwardly.

"It' nice to have you back," Sky said politely.

"Cheater," Crag muttered from the back. Careen elbowed him.

"It's not his fault there weren't any Careers," she said.

"He probably would have won anyway. He's like ten feet tall," Page said. I was seven feet tall, so she wasn't far off.

"Did you have something in mind to celebrate?" Orchard asked to try to bring us back on track. I surprised everyone with my answer.

"I want to get an operation," I said.

"You're not in the best health right now," Orchard said, pointing out the most obvious of a thousand objections she could have made.

"I'm not... quite right. You know. I always thought if I ever got to the Capitol, they had better doctors there. They could make me right," I said.

"I don't want to sit in some boring waiting room next to some sniffling kid," Estrella said.

"You're fine the way you are," Orchard said. Even I knew she was lying.

"I want to be like everyone else," I said.

"Everyone else died," Pray pointed out.

"Am I really living the same way everyone else is alive?" I asked. Even if I didn't feel it, I avoided things I knew were wrong. And I knew I was wrong.

"We'll have to get permission," Orchard said. "I'll see what I can do and we'll meet again after."

Snow said no. He said my "alexithymia", as he put it, was part of my "brand". I didn't get it straight from him, of course, but Snapdragon laid it out. She said all Victors were unique and it was important for me to celebrate my diversity. She encouraged me to think of a unique and special talent I could use to improve the Capitol that had given me so much. I suspected she'd read it all off a cue card. The stilted delivery gave her away. That, and there was no way Snapdragon knew the word "alexithymia".

When I first got Reaped sixteen years ago, I thought there was one silver lining. I thought maybe I could finally be normal, that I could finally be a full person. There went that plan. The second time I went in, I thought Vera made it worth it. She was gone, too. The only good thing was that I wasn't dead, but I wasn't sure there was anything objectively good about that. I was just selfish.

So we had a party instead. The others knocked the Games building sideways. I sat in the corner and wished Vera was there. I'd still be dead inside, but I'd be with her.


	85. Victory Tour

**I did the tour this time since Frankie was involved with so many Tributes. There's one last chapter left.**

* * *

One went easy. There was only Pandora, and she wasn't one of their proudest Tributes. They were as eager to get it over with as I was. The only good thing about the Resurrection Games was that I got to skip Two entirely.

I didn't interact with any of the Tributes from Three. When I got there, it seemed like the perfect place for someone like me. The people weren't crying or wailing like everywhere else. They looked back at me as impassively as I looked at them. They were smarter than me, but otherwise we were similar.

There was only one Tribute from Four, but she was the most important of all. Vera was buried in a special wing of Four's cemetery, along with the other fallen volunteers. Some of the graves were richly decorated. Others were defaced. Vera's was fresh. I put a wreath of flowers on it. It was shaped like a heart. I picked it out special, even if she didn't know. She would have liked it. She would have liked me to tell her I won, so I did that too. If they let me, I'd come back and visit a lot. She'd like that.

Five was where things got harder. I killed Kerry and Sarla. I slunk onstage before a glaring crowd, read a tiny cue card, and slunk back away.

I made my own speech for Six. I didn't have contact with any of its Tributes but Lyte, so I focused on him. I told everyone how brave and selfless he was, like they didn't already know. Snow wanted to look merciful, and he sensed a publicity opportunity. He sent me to cut the ribbon at the clinic he had someone build.

I thought Seven would be the worst, and I was ready to run if things got bad. I'd been informed what Mr. Summers looked like, and I tensed up when he came near the stage. I didn't expect him to look happy. Everyone cleared away so he could talk.

"We want you to know we forgive you, boy," he said. He coughed and cleared his throat. "Thank you for being with her... at the end. We'll never forget it." I didn't feel remorse, but I knew killing was wrong. It was good to be forgiven.

" _You_ want him to know!" another boy hollered from further in the crowd. " _You_ forgive him! Not me!" The boy looked vaguely like Desiree. I left him without protest.

Eight and Nine weren't affected by my actions in the Games. I won and that meant one of theirs didn't, but I didn't kill any of them myself. They listened dumbly and I said my canned speech.

Someone threw a piece of cow dung at me when I said Calista's name. The Peacekeepers snapped to attention and even I could feel the tension. I spat out the rest of my speech in one breath and cleared out.

Twelve went by without incident.

It was unreal to see home again. I'd been gone sixteen years. I didn't think about it until I saw my District. I didn't recognize anyone. I didn't remember any of the buildings. An old woman ran up to me at the train station. I thought she was a rabid fan, but then I caught her scent. She still smelled the same after all these years.

"My boy," she said, and she wrapped herself around me. I hugged her back and she craned her neck to look up at me.

"I love you," she said. "I never thought this day would come. It's a miracle."

"I love you too, Mom," I said. I'd almost forgotten I ever had a mother. I felt more like a stone golem brought to life with a mind but not a heart. Vera was my only evidence I was something human. When I saw the emotion I brought to my mother's face, I remembered Vera wasn't the only one. Someone else thought I was worth loving.

Snow could stop me from changing, but he didn't care if I found out what I was. A few days after I got home, I got hauled back to the Capitol for a gala. Snapdragon helped me make a few arrangements, and I found myself sitting on a sterile plastic sheet on a sterile bed.

"I've diagnosed you with traumatic alexithymia. The alexithymia is because of your symptoms, and the traumatic is because of how you described their genesis. It's a form of brain damage from complications at birth," the doctor said. He laid out a stack of sheets and diagrams. He sensed I wasn't going to say anything and continued to explain.

"The lack of emotion, or flat affect, is caused by a dysfunction in the anterior cingulate cortex," he said, pointing to a yellow section on a diagram of a brain.

"Can you fix it?" I asked.

"Generally, such damage is chronic. We may be able to affect change with a therapeutic surgery, but it's uncertain. Frankly, I don't think any of my surgeons would be willing to take such a high-profile case," he said.

I asked more about the diagnosis and he explained how the brain sections interlocked and how delicate the process was. When I left, life seemed better than it had been before I came. I wasn't allowed to try surgery and maybe improve myself, but I knew, at last, what I was. I had a diagnosis and a title. It was like a new, fuller identity.


	86. Epilogue

_Some months later_

I was in the Capitol again, for some nonsense half-year Hunger Games party. I was the most recent Victor, but I was also the most boring Victor. It was easy to sneak out one night, even if I was freakishly tall.

I'd had a lot of time to study in between practicing my talent (dancing). I'd read everything I could about the brain. I knew about hormones, chemicals, endorphins, and much more. I knew the Capitol was the perfect place to find what I needed. I would have thought the people here were happier than anywhere else. But it seemed they couldn't tamp down their consciences. They needed help, just like me.

I also knew I wouldn't have to look. They'd find me. I looked intimidating by nature, but the people I was looking for were bold by nature.

"Hey man, looking for something?" a neatly dressed but still shady-looking man asked in an alley lit only by the harsh neon lights of the neighboring buildings.

"What do you got?" I asked. The man came closer and stopped suspiciously.

"Hey, you're the Victor," he said, and he stepped back. "I don't want to sell to no Victor."

"You want to get on one's bad side?" I asked. The man glanced around and opened a briefcase.

"Can't imagine why someone like you would want it... What'll it be? Uppers, downers, something to let your mind wander while someone's hands do the same thing?"

"I'm looking for Paradise," I said.

"Aren't we all?" the man said. He opened a flat packet and brought out a perforated paper-like wafer.

"Place on tongue, let melt, boom- paradise," the man said. I paid him and he melted into the darkness.

I hid the paper in my pocket until I was home again. The second night after I got back, after my mother was settled in and I could be alone, I took it out. I locked the door to my room and leaned my mattress up against it. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I didn't want anyone to disturb me. The last three times, nothing had happened. Maybe this would be the one. I was like a doctor, calculating and guessing at the right mixture and dose.

I sat with my back to the mattress and set a tab on my tongue. The paper melted like sugar and a slight, nearly imperceptible taste spread across my mouth. The first effects I noticed were physical. My skin prickled and my heartbeat quickened. Then fish appeared on the wall and swam around the room. But that was nothing I hadn't seen before.

Something happened, and it staggered me. As colors bled from the falls and swirled around me, something happened. Like a sense I'd never known and couldn't have imagined, I experienced something in a way I never had. My reason and logic were shattered and I couldn't control my actions. I felt like I was drowning, and I sucked in breaths. Something new and alien, something that wasn't a thought, came from inside my head. Inside my head, but somewhere other than my brain. I wanted it to stop, but I knew it wasn't real. It hurt like death, but it wasn't damaging me.

 _This is emotion,_ I thought, and I was in awe. This was what other people had all the time. How could they function? I couldn't stop my face from moving in ways that didn't make sense. The logic and pragmatism that ruled my life were torn away. I wanted to act for reasons that didn't make any sense. Abstract, meaningless thoughts filled my head and they affected me in ways I'd never had to articulate.

I was like a deaf man hearing an orchestra. I was like a baby first seeing another person.

 _Which one is it?_ I asked myself. I thought of what I'd seen my mother and Vera feel, and what name they would have put on it. It wasn't a nice emotion, as far as I could guess. It hurt, and I wanted it to stop. It might have been sadness.

 _I love my mother, and I love Vera,_ I thought. Love wasn't what I was feeling at the moment, but I knew I _could_ feel it sometime and I _would._ It was something like love, though. It was potent and strong enough to bring tears to my eyes.

 _I miss her,_ I thought. I wanted there to be a way for her to come back. I knew there wasn't, but I wanted it. I cried, like that could make it better. I couldn't stop.

 _It's mourning,_ I understood. The first emotion I ever experienced was grief. It hurt enough to sear my heart. I would have thought I wouldn't want any more emotions ever again, but I wanted them all. I wanted them all, but first I had to finish this one. I leaned against the mattress and began to grieve.

* * *

 **After so long, after so many chapters they seemed to last forever, it's done. It felt surreal to reach even the end of the Games part. There were so many this time I thought I'd be writing it forever. It will be nice to get back to normal Games, as fun as this was.**

 **I was all set to have Frankie get that operation he mentioned back in year 25, but his submitter threw a spanner in the works and said Snow probably wouldn't like that. Which is true. I sat in my thinking chair a while and got to thinking about mood-altering drugs. They might or might not work on a brain-damaged person, so it was perfect for Frankie. They won't always work and sometimes the preparation or mix won't be right, so he'll usually be like he was before. But he'll have room to grow and develop as he explores his brain chemistry and forces his way through what Snow won't let him fix entirely. Since he has the opposite of an addictive personality, he won't get addicted, and since he's pragmatic, he'll keep a low profile and keep Snow happy.**

 **Calvary's story is up under Calvary Road**


End file.
